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Wolflines is a bulletin of Defenders of Wildlife designed to serve wolf organizations and advocates. Bulletins are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily represent the positions of all organizations mentioned. © Defenders of Wildlife 2000
Action Alert: U.S. FWS Considers Wolf Translocation into Gila National Forest The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is proposing to use up to four sites within the Gila Wilderness portion of the Gila National Forest in New Mexico to translocate previously released wolves for management purposes. Translocation involves recapturing reintroduced wolves and moving them to a new location within the recovery area. FWS began public surveying last week to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) addressing the effects of translocation. The EA is anticipated to be completed in early February. There will be a 30-day comment period before a decision is issued. Public hearings are scheduled for:
FWS completed an environmental impact statement in 1996 that addresses the effects of reintroducing wolves into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area. Wolves were approved for direct release into the primary recovery zone in Arizona and can disperse throughout all of the Apache-Sitgreaves and Gila National Forests in Arizona and New Mexico. The purpose of the EA is to determine whether there are any significant effects associated with the proposed translocation that were not addressed in the original EIS. It will also address any significant changes in the project that would warrant the preparation of a supplemental EIS. FWS regional director, Nancy Kaufman states that the objective in translocating wolves is to maximize the potential of reintroduced animals to succeed and to minimize the impacts of wolves on human uses of the same landscapes, such as livestock grazing and recreation. FWS Mexican wolf biologist, Wendy Brown, added that the four proposed sites within the Gila Wilderness were identified because they are remotely located, have good game populations and are not grazed by livestock. Click here to see the full press release. *Please write today to support this much needed redirection of the Mexican wolf recovery effort. The deadline for written comments is Friday, February 4, 2000. Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator Suggested points for your comments:
We encourage you to write a letter and attend a public hearing. Opponents will be present at the hearings and we want to make sure there is a stronger demonstration of support for the wolves! Action Alert: Minnesota DNR Releases Proposed Wolf Plan The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) met with the state's wolf roundtable committee on Wednesday, January 26, to release a proposed wolf management plan. According to the plan, the state will be divided into two zones, a gray wolf zone (wolf management zones 1-4 from the federal wolf recovery plan) and an agricultural zone (zone 5 from the plan). The wolf roundtable recommendations will be followed in the wolf zone. However, in the agricultural zone, federal and state trappers will have authority to remove wolves on farms with a verified livestock predation in the previous five years. It also allows property owners to remove wolves to protect their property (though there are no guidelines as to what constitutes protection of property). None of the stakeholder groups were pleased with the plan. Wolf supporters feel the rules allowing killing of wolves in zone 5 are too lenient, and agricultural interests don't like the zone system because they believe most depredations take place in other zones, where the wolves will have more protection. There is no sponsor yet for the bill. The DNR claims that the proposed wolf management plan is a compromise because 90 percent of the wolves are in the wolf zone; but they also acknowledge that the zones may change, possibly providing for a larger agricultural zone, which may allow more wolf killing. The text of the proposed plan can be found at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/. Please write the Minnesota DNR and tell them to support a wolf management plan that reflects the original roundtable agreement, not the plan currently proposed. Defenders Offers Reward for Information: Wolves in Idaho Poisoned by Deadly 1080; at Least Two Dead Defenders of Wildlife has responded to news that wildlife in Idaho are being illegally poisoned by offering a $2,500 reward in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. Four animals, including two federally endangered wolves, a fox and a rancher’s dog, have been killed on federal forest land in this area within the last year. The FWS’s National Forensics Lab in Oregon performed necropsies on the two wolves recovered from the Panther Creek and Myers Cove area and confirmed 1080 poisoning as the cause of death. Officials warned that 1080 poisoning could affect any species, including humans, that come in contact with it by ingestion or through wounds or skin abrasions. Livestock owners and outdoor enthusiasts are being warned to be extra cautious in this region of Idaho. Defenders of Wildlife had worked diligently to ban 1080 use in the 1970s and later in the 1980s because of the cruel and unusual manner in which it kills. 1080 is one of the most deadly poisons in the world. Odorless and tasteless, it effects the cardiac and central nervous systems and causes convulsions, vomiting, spinal pressure, renal failure and eventual organ failure. 1080 is deadly to humans, and there is no known antidote. Click here to see the full press release. Vermont House of Representatives Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources Hold Meeting on Anti-wolf Bill The Vermont House of Representatives Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources held another meeting Wednesday, January 26, on the proposed anti-wolf reintroduction bill. The turnout of wolf supporters was fantastic and the room was packed. Countless numbers of people spoke in opposition to the bill while only three people spoke in support. Although at the first meeting, committee Chair Robert Helm (Castleton) said there would be a public hearing on the bill the following week, there was no mention of it at this second meeting and it is likely the overwhelming attendance and show of opposition has proved it unnecessary. Reportedly, one committee member said they doubted the bill would go any further in light of the opposition. Although it is hard to predict the final outcome, as we learned from the anti-wolf bills which passed in New Hampshire last year, things look promising. Wisconsin Investigators Seek Help and Offer Reward in (Another) Illegal Wolf Kill State and federal investigators are seeking help from deer hunters hunting in an area south of the Sprague-Mather Flowage this deer season when a federally endangered gray wolf was killed. The state of Wisconsin, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Defenders of Wildlife Imperiled Predator Fund and the Timber Wolf Alliance of the Sigurd Olson Institute have offered a $4,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the wolf killer(s). The 99 pound wolf was the first female to be illegally killed in Wisconsin’s central forest. The wolf was killed within an area bounded by the Sprague Mather road on the north, 6th Avenue North (Bewick Trail) on the west, 11th Street West on the south, and 7th Avenue North on the east. The area is about 8.5 miles northwest of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Special Agent Ed Spoon has stated that FWS officials would like to speak to anyone who hunted in this area during the opening weekend of gun deer season in 1999. Individuals with information can remain anonymous. Please contact Special Agent Spoon at (608) 221-1206, ext.15, Wisconsin Conservation Warden Matt Weber at (608) 565-2519, or the DNR confidential hotline at 1- 800-847-9637. Defenders of Wildlife Celebrates the Return of Wolves to the Boise Area On the heels of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling two weeks ago, Defenders of Wildlife also celebrates the news that reintroduced wolves have made their way back into the Boise, Idaho region. "It's thrilling to hear wolves have moved as far south as Boise, and we hope they'll continue to live unharmed, adding a new dimension of wildness to our area," said Defenders of Wildlife’s Idaho-based field representative, Suzanne Laverty, who has also worked as a member of the US-Canadian team in the capture and release of wolves in Idaho. "As a Boisean, I'm proud we have enough quality winter habitat to allow species like wolves to survive. This marks the return of one of Idaho's most persecuted and endangered species to our area and I hope the wolves can live here in peace with the support of Idahoans who also value these majestic animals," she said. Wolves have settled close to other inhabited parts of the region such as Missoula, Montana and Salmon, Idaho. The wolves may be following the natural migration of the elk and deer near Boise. Biologists suspect they may only use this area during the winter and follow the herds back north in the spring. Click here to see the full press release.
Wolflines is a bulletin of Defenders of Wildlife designed to serve wolf organizations and advocates. Bulletins are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily represent the positions of all organizations.
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