For Immediate Release
December 17, 1999
Contact:	Ken Goldman 202-682-9400 x237 (Media)
	Bob Ferris 202-682-9400 x104 (Program)

Defenders of Wildlife Releases First Comprehensive National Wolf Strategy Defenders of Wildlife today released the first comprehensive national wolf strategy since gray wolves in the lower 48 states were protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) 25 years ago. Defenders, the leading national wolf advocacy group, notes that although wolves were listed under the ESA nationally, recovery efforts for the species have been handled regionally and the hope is that the new report will provide a national vision. The Defenders report also aims to influence an upcoming proposed rule on wolf classification under the ESA expected to be issued by the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) early in 2000. "Conservationists have been frustrated by the lack of a national vision for the long-term restoration and recovery of wolves in the lower 48 states," says Dr. Mark Shaffer, vice president for programs and a co- author of the new report. "Although the Interior Department should be commended for reintroducing wolves in several areas in recent years, we felt the need for a blueprint to ensure the long-term success of these reintroductions and to identify other areas where wolf restoration would be desirable and possible." Shaffer noted that delisting in California could pre-empt reintroductions in some of the best historic habitat for wolves. Based on a FWS press release of June 1998 outlining their proposed changes, Defenders anticipates that FWS may remove protection for the wolf under the ESA in some areas. For example, the 1998 press release mentioned the possibility of proposing delisting the wolf in California and Nevada. "There are more places where wolves could return than the Fish and Wildlife Service is anticipating," said Shaffer. "Delisting them in California could pre-empt restoring them there. What if our nation had taken such an approach with the peregrine falcon or bald eagle." The new four-color, 36-page report is entitled Places for Wolves: A Blueprint for Restoration and Long-Term Recovery in the Lower 48 States. Bob Ferris, Director of the Species Conservation Division at Defenders, is the lead author. In 1974, wolves were listed under the ESA as endangered in all 48 states but Minnesota, where they were listed as threatened. Although listed nationally, the species recovery efforts have been handled on a piecemeal basis, regionally. "This report was developed in consultation with a host of experts, so we are confident it is a scientifically defensible and socially reasonable national wolf recovery strategy," says Ferris. “The strategy is the first comprehensive presentation of regions where wolves could and should be along with descriptions of specific sites within those regions where science says wolves could survive. The report also identifies additional areas where research is needed to determine their long-term value for wolf recovery.” The report contains maps and specific recommendations about where the federal government should put wolves and encourage recolonization. It also clarifies when wolf management should be turned over to the states. In addition, the strategy calls for the creation of economic incentives to encourage wolf restoration on private lands as well as calling for an international treaty to protect wolves and other large predators in North America. Finally, the report calls on the FWS to initiate comprehensive education programs to prepare people to live with wolves. Although wolves once were found throughout much of North America, by the 1970s, three centuries of persecution had eliminated both the gray wolf (Canis lupus) and the red wolf (Canis rufus) from the wild everywhere in the contiguous United States except in northeastern Minnesota, where fewer than 1,000 gray wolves remained. Today, however, wolves are making a comeback. Gray wolves have increased in Minnesota and have recolonized parts of northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan, and northwestern Montana with limited human intervention. FWS has reintroduced the gray wolf in central Idaho and in the Yellowstone ecosystem of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Gray wolves have reappeared even in the North Cascades of Washington state and are proposed by Defenders for reintroduction in the Olympic range. FWS reintroductions in the Southwest are restoring the Mexican wolf -- a subspecies of gray wolf that existed only in captivity before reintroduction. In northeastern North Carolina, reintroduction efforts are bringing back the red wolf to its native habitat. As a result of these successful expansions of wolf populations, FWS is considering reclassifying gray wolf populations under the ESA. Reclassifications under consideration include downlisting the gray wolf from endangered to threatened in Wisconsin, Michigan, and most of the other contiguous 48 states within its historic range. "Inexplicably, FWS may delist the gray wolf in California and Nevada despite the lack of wolves and the availability of appropriate habitat in both areas," the Defenders report notes. Wolves reintroduced in Wyoming, Idaho, and North Carolina would remain experimental, nonessential populations, as would the Mexican wolf in the Southwest. The gray wolf also was slated for delisting in Minnesota, but failure on the part of the state to produce an acceptable management plan has stalled that action for now. "Such changes, by setting less ambitious goals for continued restoration than (would be) essential to long-term recovery, would fail to complete the job of saving wolves. . . . Defenders of Wildlife believes that achieving true long-term recovery of the gray wolf and red wolf requires not just protection and expansion of current populations but also active restoration of these species to additional areas." The report examines the potential for wolves in the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, Southern Rockies, Southwest and Southeast in detail. Defenders of Wildlife contends that FWS should "designate and plan for the restoration of sufficient distinct population segments of the gray wolf to assure the adequate environmental, ecological, and geographical representation of the species throughout its former range." Places for Wolves contains detailed recommendations as well as maps and the history of wolves and the federal wolf plan in the United States. Defenders of Wildlife is a nonprofit organization with approximately 370,000 members and supporters. The organization is noted for its leadership on endangered species issues, especially the reintroduction of wolves into the Yellowstone ecosystem and the Southwest. Defenders maintains a Wolf Compensation Trust to reimburse livestock owners at fair market value for the occasional loss of livestock to wolves. This fund has been credited with contributing greatly to support for reintroduction. Defenders Wolf Policy Team also includes Nina Fascione, Assistant Director for Species; Hank Fischer, Northern Rockies regional representative; Craig Miller, Southwest regional representative; Suzanne Laverty, Southern Rockies regional representative; Gerry Ring-Erickson, Washington state representative; Debra Davidson, Northeast regional representative; and Heather Pellet and Mike Senatore, co-authors of the report.