No. 312, August 1, 2002


MEXICAN GRAY WOLF ACTION ALERT

  • SUCCESSFUL REPRODUCTION BOOSTS WOLF NUMBERS AFTER LAST YEAR'S DECLINE

  • CONGRESSMAN SKEEN'S LAST HURRAH

  • ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL SAYS LET TOP SCIENTISTS' REVIEW STAND

  • CONTACT CONGRESS TO FIGHT SKEEN'S POLITICAL MISCHIEF

  • NEW FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE REGIONAL DIRECTOR NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!


SUCCESSFUL REPRODUCTION BOOSTS WOLF NUMBERS AFTER LAST YEAR'S DECLINE

Seven of the eight Mexican wolf packs in the wild appear to be denning. Before this season's reproduction and the release in mid-June of the nine-member Bluestem Pack in Arizona, the known and monitored wild population had declined to 17 animals -- approximately half of what it was two years ago. Unfortunately, one of the Bluestem Pack's members has already been recaptured (and the Center for Biological Diversity has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to ascertain the circumstances). But there is unexpected good news, also: In mid-July a previously unknown two-year-old male wolf was trapped in Arizona, fitted with a radio collar and re-released; evidently at least one of the several pups born in the wild but not collared when young is still alive.


CONGRESSMAN SKEEN'S LAST HURRAH

Retiring Representative Joe Skeen (R-NM), a public lands sheep rancher, beneficiary of federal predator killing services, and chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Committee, has again attached language to this year's proposed Interior budget intended to trip up the Mexican wolf recovery program. Skeen's language is more in the nature of a harangue than command, voicing suspicion of last year's blue ribbon panel of wolf scientists and their recommendations, urging another review of the wolf program, but only requiring that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "consult" with his committee (ie. not banning it from action) if it intends to "deviate from the original wolf reintroduction plan" -- ie. reform the program along the lines the scientists urged. Nevertheless, Fish and Wildlife has failed to begin those reforms under similar pressure from Skeen in the past, and agency officials might interpret even this vague language as a mandate to further ignore the scientists.


ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL SAYS LET TOP SCIENTISTS' REVIEW STAND

At the twilight of his congressional career, Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M., is restating his request from a year ago that a new, independent review be commissioned to evaluate the science behind the reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf. The controversial recovery program is opposed by many of Skeen's most vocal southern New Mexico constituents, and like a good representative, he's making their sentiments known. Last week, the House of Representatives approved the spending bill that included Skeen's call for a second review. The bill now awaits Senate consideration.
The Senate should kill Skeen's request. It isn't the principle of an independent review that makes this a bad idea; it simply would be redundant and a poor use of limited endangered species recovery funds.

In June of last year, a team of four experts -- led by Paul Paquet, perhaps the world's leading authority on wolf ecology -- completed a detailed analysis of the first three years of the program. This report is a scientific overview of the program's strengths and flaws, in addition to a series of recommendations. (It can be read at http://southwest.fws.gov/htmwolf.html.)

Skeen argues that the review's authors are "suspect" because they have participated in earlier wolf reintroductions; in other words, they are intimately familiar with the successes and failures of past efforts. But that should be considered an asset, not a shortcoming. Of course, Skeen can publicly oppose Mexican gray wolf recovery if he feels the program is not warranted. The program's future is properly a political question. But Skeen is wrong to seek a costly new study in the hopes of achieving a more critical review. The Senate should let last year's review stand.
The Albuquerque Journal ran the above editorial on 7-28-02.


CONTACT CONGRESS TO FIGHT SKEEN'S POLITICAL MISCHIEF

The fiscal year 2003 Interior Appropriations Act with Skeen's anti-wolf provision has already passed the House of Representatives but not the Senate, where there is as yet no accompanying Mexican wolf language. This difference and many others will eventually be hashed out in a conference committee involving members from both chambers. The Senate will begin a month-long recess next week and many senators, particularly those up for re-election, will be holding town meetings.

House members are already on recess and many will also be setting up public events. Please plan on attending these meetings and request that your Representative and Senators work to excise the anti-wolf House language in the conference committee for this funding bill.

Please also write a letter to that effect: Senators are at U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510 and Representatives are at U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515. (Snail mail is still far more widely read in the capital than are emails!)


NEW FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE REGIONAL DIRECTOR NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has had over a year to begin changing the program's rules in accordance with the urgent recommendations of the Paquet Report. Those recommendations include:

(1) Giving Fish and Wildlife authority to release wolves directly from the captive population into New Mexico (currently only animals trapped after initial release into Arizona or birth in the wild can be re-released into the Gila);
(2) Allowing the wolves to roam outside the relatively small recovery area's boundaries; and
(3) Addressing the problem of livestock carcasses that lure the wolves to active grazing areas and habituate them to livestock. But despite the fact that the wolf population last year experienced sharp declines, as predicted by the Paquet Report, and that the population is still very vulnerable, Fish and Wildlife has not begun the lengthy process of changing the rule.

The new Fish and Wildlife Service southwest regional director, Dale Hall, has the authority to break the logjam. Please write him and request an immediate beginning to the long-stalled imperative of changing the Mexican wolf rules according to the scientific recommendations.

Address: Dale Hall, Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 1306, Albuquerque, NM 87103. (It would also be helpful to include a copy of this letter with the letters you send members of Congress, or to bring them to congressional meetings and hand to an aide.)

For more information about the Center's wolf campaign, click here, or contact Michael Robinson at (505) 534-0360.


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