Feds agree to draft new national recovery plan for gray wolves

From MPR News:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to draft a new national recovery plan for gray wolves as part of a legal settlement approved by a federal judge in the District of Columbia.

The agreement comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity.

The group had challenged the agency’s decision in 2020 to remove most gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. A federal court later restored wolf protections in the lower 48 states.

 

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Newly-published study examines deer behavior in the presence of wolves

From Outdoor News:

A study recently published by a University of Minnesota research team shines new light on deer behavior, by comparing populations considered “savvy” and “naive” to wolf predation. Dr. Ellen Candler, postdoctoral associate and lead author of the study, said it should be of interest to hunters in that it looks at how humans, their prey, and the predators they share it with all interact and affect each other.

 

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Fish and Wildlife Commission adopts new administrative rules on grizzly, wolf management

From the Daily Montanan:

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new administrative rules Thursday regarding grizzly bear and wolf management that have drawn criticism from environmental and conservation groups throughout the rulemaking process.

The adoption of the rules for both species marks key steps as the state updates its wolf management plan for the first time in two decades and prepares to manage grizzly bears in the event the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decides to delist them in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem – a decision currently under review.

 

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US judge to decide Friday if Colorado can reintroduce wolves over cattle industry objections

From Western Slope Now:

DENVER (AP) — A federal judge said she would decide by Friday whether to temporarily halt the impending reintroduction of gray wolves to Colorado under a voter-approved initiative, after representatives of the state’s cattle industry went to court to try to stop the predators’ release.

If the judge sides with the industry, the decision would scramble Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s plans of searching for, capturing and transporting up to 10 wolves from Oregon starting Sunday.

The wolves are supposed to be released by Dec. 31, the deadline imposed under a 2020 ballot proposal that passed by a narrow margin. The animals would be among the first gray wolves in Colorado in decades.

 

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Colorado ranchers launch last-ditch effort to block wolves. Here’s how.

From The Journal:

Two ranching groups in Colorado are suing Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in federal court to block the release of wolves in western Colorado.

“There is just a point where you get down to ‘this is not right,’” said Ken Spann with the Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association, which joined the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association in the complaint filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver. “This is not an objection to the voter mandate. This is about how CPW is proceeding vis-à-vis the livestock industry in the Western Slope.”

 

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Study reveals the red wolf’s ecological impact

From Smoky Mountain News:

According to a study published last month in the scientific journal Animal Conservation, wild red wolves in eastern North Carolina had a significant ecological impact prior to their dramatic decline in recent years.

The study tracked wildlife detection rates from 2015 to 2021 using dozens of motion-activated camera traps in the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges, the core of the red wolf recovery area.

 

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Initiates Effort for a National Dialogue Around Working Landscapes and Gray Wolves and Thriving Communities and Cultures

From U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today launched a new effort to create and foster a national dialogue around how communities can live with gray wolves (Canus lupus) to include conflict prevention, long-term stability and community security.

To foster the long-term conservation of wolves and address the concerns of varied communities, the Service recognizes a need to bring interested members of the public together for transparent and thoughtful conversations. These discussions will include those who live with wolves and those who do not but want to know they have a place on the landscape.

 

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Wolves get new frontier in Colorado, stoking political tension

From Oregon Public Broadcasting:

Wildlife officials plan to release gray wolves in Colorado in coming weeks, at the behest of urban voters and to the dismay of rural residents who don’t want the predators but have waning influence in the Democratic-led state.

The most ambitious wolf reintroduction effort in the U.S. in almost three decades marks a sharp departure from aggressive efforts by Republican-led states to cull wolf packs. More releases planned for Colorado over the next several years will start to fill in one of the last remaining major gaps in the western U.S. for a species that historically ranged from northern Canada to the desert southwest.

 

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How the Endangered Species Act Saved America

From Time:

Climate change, it turns out, is not the first time humanity has re‑made the Earth. Or resorted to a Hail Mary to save it.

Fifty years ago, in a crowning achievement of American environmental legislation, the country passed a law on the short list of our very best ideas. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 reversed one of the most disturbing histories of wildlife destruction of any modern nation, meriting its characterization by the Supreme Court as the most comprehensive legislation for endangered species on the globe. The ESA was an expression of our country’s long history of extending rights to those who lack them, expanding the circle of morality and compassion in a history that reveals us as a people. Today, the ESA may be equally as important for what it says about our will to stave off environmental disaster.

 

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US wildlife managers capture wandering Mexican wolf, attempt dating game ahead of breeding season

From AP News:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A match made in the wilds of New Mexico?

An endangered Mexican wolf captured last weekend after wandering hundreds of miles from Arizona to New Mexico is now being readied for a dating game of sorts as part of federal reintroduction efforts.

But only time will tell whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can succeed in finding a suitable mate for the female wolf numbered F2754. The newly captured wolf will be offered a choice among two brothers that are also housed at the federal government’s wolf management facility in central New Mexico.

 

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