For Wolf Awareness Week this year, Defenders has invited guest bloggers to offer their perspectives on the importance of wolf conservation. Story Warren, a seventh grader in Olympia, Wash. testified before the state Fish and Wildlife Commission in support of its wolf recovery plan. The text of her testimony is included below:

This wolf was spotted earlier this year in the Cascade Mountains, about 100 miles east of Seattle. The state is currently finalizing its comprehensive wolf conservation plan.

Members of the commission:  My name is Story Warren. I am in seventh grade at NOVA middle school in Olympia. When I saw my first tiny speck of a wild wolf in a telescope that was almost as big as me, I was six years old.  Ever since that day, wolves have intrigued me and sparked my imagination. Since then, I have painted them, written about them, and studied them extensively. I have watched them in the wild on numerous occasions.  I hope to, one day, make a career out of studying wolves and also coming up with ways to prevent livestock/wolf interaction. It would be wonderful if I could make that career happen right here in Washington state. It saddens me to see that such resentment is fueled toward wolves. Dogs, our beloved companions and workers, are genetically more than 99% wolf, and dogs kill more livestock nationwide than wolves do.

I want to represent young people in saying that I believe it is very important that we keep wolves in Washington for my generation; my generation is going to have to live with – or without – whatever your generation does to the world. My personal opinion is that the Wolf Management and Conservation Plan that we are all here today to discuss is not perfect for any party, but I am here to support it because it seems to be reasonable.

So I ask you to please adopt this Wolf Recovery plan. Thank you for your time.

–Story Warren