From VailDaily.com:
Around one year ago, gray wolves were released in Colorado, implementing the voter-approved mandate to reestablish the predators in the state after being eradicated over 80 years ago. Between Dec. 17 to 22, 2023, 10 wolves were captured in Oregon and released in Colorado’s Western Slope — eight in Grand County and two in Summit County.
While environmental advocates and Colorado Parks and Wildlife laud the reintroduction efforts as successful and remarkable from a biological perspective, the first year has been heavily scrutinized. Ranchers and legislators described it as disastrous, painful, frustrating, stressful and challenging.
Click here for the full story.
Colorado wildlife officials recommend denying petition to pause wolf reintroduction
From The Coloradoan.com:
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is recommending that the state’s wildlife commission deny a recent petition to pause the next release of wolves.
A group of 26 organizations — largely comprised of livestock producers — submitted the petition for rulemaking the to commission Sept. 27. The state wildlife agency announced its recommendation in a new release Saturday ahead of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission’s meeting Jan. 8.
Click here for the full story.
Why Minnesota Doesn’t Allow Wolf Hunting Despite Having The Highest Wolf Population in Lower 48
From NewsBreak.com:
Minnesota is home to more wolves than any other U.S. state except Alaska. In addition, Minnesota has more wolves than Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana put together. Yet, despite the thriving population, wolf hunting is restricted. However, that could change.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently announced its first updated wolf management plan in over 20 years. The new project will serve as a blueprint to support the state’s wolf population for the next decade. In addition, this new initiative could open the door to wolf hunting.
Click here for the full story.
Mexican Wolf Population Surpassing Recovery Goals in the United States
From U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:
The United States population of Mexican wolves has surpassed interim abundance and release targets, as well as predictions for gene diversity and population growth. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 5-Year Evaluation of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Strategy assesses progress on recovery objectives for the Mexican wolf for both the U.S. and Mexico populations of wild Mexican wolves.
This evaluation also measures progress towards interim abundance and release targets identified in the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan, and compares between observed metrics and predicted metrics, which were derived from 2017 modeling and used to craft the current recovery strategy and criteria for the endangered subspecies.
Click here for the full story.
Officials offer $10,000 reward for information on illegal gray wolf killing in Morrow County
From NBCRightNow.com:
MORROW COUNTY, Ore. – U.S. Fish and Wildlife is searching for information regarding the killing of an endangered gray wolf found in Morrow County. A male radio-collared gray wolf, known as OR 159, was found dead on Nov. 8 on private land about 20 miles south of Heppner.
Pausing wolves could save $2.1M as state faces shortfall
From TheFencePost.com:
According to reporting by Colorado Politics Chief Political Reporter Marianne Goodland, one of the cuts debated by the Joint Budget Committee to close a budget hole is the wolf reintroduction program. The shortfall was originally reported at $1 billion, and has since been lowered to $750 million, according to Legislative Council Staff and the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting. The issue is whether to fund the wolf reintroduction program in the 2025-26 budget year or save the $2.1 million in general fund dollars appropriated annually for the program.
Click here for the full story.
New Federal Grant for US Highway 64 Crossings Could Save Endangered Red Wolves and Other Wildlife
From Animal Welfare Institute:
Private conservation groups raised millions to boost North Carolina DOT application
Click here for the full story.
People already live alongside predators in India and Kenya. Here’s how it could work in Scotland
From Phys.org:
On my way to the Scottish Highlands for the first time, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the landscapes and struck by its resemblance to the North American wilderness, albeit without the wildlife.
I felt sad to think that the only howl I was going to hear was that of the wind—like a lament for Scotland’s lost predators: the wolf, the lynx and the bear. Little did I know at the time that one of the places I passed through was called Rannoch Moor which, according to Scottish nature writer Jim Crumley, is an ideal place to reintroduce wolves to Scotland.
Click here for the full story.
Wolves, walleyes, moose and the Superior Hiking Trail attract funding in record package of Minnesota projects
From StarTribune.com:
Minnesota is poised to spend a record amount of money from state lottery proceeds next year — more than $100 million — to fund conservation efforts ranging from studying young, pregnant moose to replacing the Superior Hiking Trail’s most compromised foot bridges.
The broad slate of 124 outdoors projects across the state, including a closer look at the resiliency of different walleye strains in warming lakes, was overwhelmingly approved last week by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The grants adopted by the bipartisan, bicameral group will roll out in 2025 if approved by the Legislature.
Click here for the full story.
Wild Cam: As snow decreases, wolf stomachs rumble
From Wildlife.org:
Lower snow levels in Minnesota winters means fewer vulnerable deer for packs to prey on
The first sign that Thomas Gable and his colleagues were approaching a kill site was the calls of crows and eagles cutting through the winter silence in northern Minnesota.
The ecologist in the Voyageurs Wolf Project at the University of Minnesota was surveying wolf predation last winter when snowfall was particularly low. He and his colleagues had GPS collars on wolves in two packs near Voyageurs National Park. When data were relayed back to Gable and his team’s computer, they looked for the telltale cluster of location points that indicated a potential kill.
Click here for the full story.
‘Disastrous’ or ‘off to a good start?’: One year into wolf restoration, Colorado navigates divide between wildlife conservation and ranching
From VailDaily.com:
Around one year ago, gray wolves were released in Colorado, implementing the voter-approved mandate to reestablish the predators in the state after being eradicated over 80 years ago. Between Dec. 17 to 22, 2023, 10 wolves were captured in Oregon and released in Colorado’s Western Slope — eight in Grand County and two in Summit County.
While environmental advocates and Colorado Parks and Wildlife laud the reintroduction efforts as successful and remarkable from a biological perspective, the first year has been heavily scrutinized. Ranchers and legislators described it as disastrous, painful, frustrating, stressful and challenging.
Click here for the full story.