Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Feds to abandon wolf recovery nationwide – We’ve been very busy at Defenders since last Friday when the LA Times first reported that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is ready to give up on gray wolves across the country except in the Southwest. Our Executive Vice President Don Barry was interviewed by several reporters, including the Associated Press for a story that was picked up by more than 200 outlets from coast to coast (e.g., USA Today). He emphasized that the Service is throwing in the towel too soon, long before wolves are fully recovered.

“There’s a race to the bottom to see who can be more anti-wolf… They’re basically giving up on wolf recovery before the job is done.”

Don also talked to Aaron Kunz with Northwest Public Radio to discuss the potential impacts for wolves in the region, as well as the impacts beyond their current range in states where there are no wolves.

“Wolves are still not recovered in key parts of their range. Delisting at this point could preclude the return of wolves in Utah or California or Colorado.”

Places like the Olympic peninsula in Washington, much of western Colorado and northern California, and parts of Utah have large swaths of wilderness that could benefit from the return of wolves. But without federal guidance and resources, wolves may never make it there on their own. Our greatest concern is that by moving forward with this nationwide delisting proposal, the Service is leaving wolves entirely at the mercy of anti-wolf politicians in the states.

Giving up on wolf recovery with just a few thousand wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes sets a very low bar for endangered species conservation in America. It also undermines decades of hard work and billions of dollars of public investment in restoring these majestic creatures to the landscape.

If you haven’t already, please contact Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and tell her not to abandon wolf recovery!

Montana gets tougher, Wyoming eases up on wolf hunting next season – Wyoming Game and Fish deserves credit for trying to avoid driving wolf numbers too low. Their proposed hunting regulations would cut in half the number of wolves that can be killed in state’s trophy game management area. In the 2013-2014 season, the proposal would allow 26 wolves to be killed by hunters in this area, down from a quota of 52 this past year. However, part of the reason they’re giving wolves a break is that there are far fewer of them in the state to begin with, compared to Idaho and Montana. Also, the completely unrestricted killing of wolves in the predator zone that encompasses most of the state has contributed to the decline of Wyoming’s wolf population. We’d much rather see Wyoming start managing and maintaining wolves outside of the regulated hunting zone and protect wolves that move outside of Yellowstone National Park. But we also need to support the state’s willingness to carefully monitor the population and revise its hunting season accordingly. You can weigh in on the proposed regulations over the next month at a series of public hearings or by submitting comments online.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, on the other hand, continues the push to reduce its wolf population. Their proposed hunting and trapping regulations for the upcoming season would expand the hunting season to March 31^st when females may be pregnant, and allow each hunter or trapper to kill up to five wolves, instead of just three. Though only two hunters and about a dozen trappers reported killing more than one wolf last year, we can expect those numbers to keep increasing as hunters and especially trappers gain more experience. The state also wants to make it easier for hunters  by allowing them to shoot wolves standing near a baited site set for trapping. Montana’s wildlife commission will be meeting next week to discuss the proposed regulations. Click here for more details. Please ask Montana’s commissioners to stop ratcheting up their wolf-killing efforts unnecessarily and focus instead on maintaining nature’s healthy balance among all species.

Washington state wolf powwow this weekend –Live in the Seattle area? Not busy this weekend? Want to learn more about wolves and Native American culture? Perfect! Then come out to the 28^th Annual Edmonds Community College Powwow, “Teachings of the Wolves,” starting this evening. Defenders is proud to help sponsor the event, which includes dance and drum ceremonies, singing, storytelling, arts and crafts.  The focus of this year’s celebration will be on understanding the deep connection that Native Americans in the region have always shared with the spirit of the wolves. We look forward to working with native communities across the state to help restore wolves, which have been a vital part of their history and way of life for millennia. If you attend the event, please stop by the Defenders’ booth and meet our local representatives.

(A special breaking edition of Wolf Weekly Wrap-up)

By Jamie Rappaport Clark

Just as we feared, it appears that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is ready to give up on wolf recovery before the job is done.

The LA Times reports today that the Service is expected to release its proposal soon to strip federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for most gray wolves in the United States. Under the proposed delisting, only Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest would still be protected by the federal law. The opportunity for expanding wolf recovery to areas with superb, unoccupied habitat in areas such as Colorado, Utah and California would be abandoned entirely, and the future of smaller developing wolf populations in the Pacific Northwest could be serious jeopardy. (See map of current vs. historical range of gray wolves.)

The gray wolf delisting proposal represents a major retreat from the optimism and values which have been the hallmark of endangered species recovery in this country for the past 40 years. Instead, the proposal reflects a short-sighted, shrunken and much weaker vision of what our conservation goals should be. The Service has clearly decided to prematurely get out of the wolf conservation business rather than working to achieve full recovery of the species.  Their decision is the equivalent of getting up and leaving in the middle of a wildlife conservation movie, mumbling “game over – we’re done – let’s get some pizza!”

In its proposal, the Service has made a number of dubious determinations that are worth examining in greater detail.

Federal biologists have decided that Canis lupus, the species of gray wolf that once spanned much of the western and central United States, will no longer be considered endangered. Part of the agency’s rationale is that wolves in both the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes have recovered and were already delisted. Of course, this ignores the fact that there are still significant areas in states like Colorado, Utah and California with excellent unoccupied wolf habitat but no wolves. Without federal protection and support for wolf recovery, wolves will be at the mercy of rabid, anti-wolf state politics that, unfortunately, is still far too prevalent across the West. Too often extreme rhetoric from ultra-conservative state politicians wins out over sound wildlife management principles.

More troublingly, the Service concludes that protection is no longer warranted since gray wolf populations worldwide are stable. This is a tragic reversal of long-standing FWS policy to protect imperiled species in this country regardless of their status north or south of our borders. By this same logic, grizzly bears, wolverines, lynx, bald eagles and numerous other iconic species would never have been listed and restored in the lower 48 because they exist in greater numbers in another country. The intent of the ESA was to restore these ecologically important animals in the United States. It doesn’t matter that they exist elsewhere. As Aldo Leopold, the grandfather of modern wildlife management once wrote, “Relegating grizzlies to Alaska is about like relegating happiness to heaven; one may never get there.”

The only bright spot in this otherwise significantly flawed delisting proposal is the Service’s decision to retain protection for Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest as a unique subspecies. With the current population hovering at 75 wolves, the agency at least recognized the need to continue protection for this struggling subspecies.

The bottom line, however, is that wolves are still not recovered in key parts of their range, and the conservation work is not done. Apparently the Service thinks it’s good enough to have gray wolves just in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, and they’re ready to call it quits on restoring wolves anywhere else.

But we’re not giving up that easily. There is still time to convince the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to do the right thing and continue the fight for America’s gray wolves. We’re asking all our members and supporters to contact new Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and demand that she maintain protection for wolves so they may continue to expand into their historic range and fully recover. This includes Colorado, Utah, California and western Oregon and Washington – all of which could benefit ecologically and economically from the return of gray wolves.

Please contact Secretary Jewell today and tell her NOT to throw in the towel on gray wolf recovery. These magnificent animals once roamed from Canada down to Mexico. They can do so once again if we give them a chance!

You can also join a live chat this morning about the proposed delisting and the future of wolf recovery in the U.S. with LA Times reporter Julie Cart at 9 a.m. Pacific/12 p.m. Eastern. Click here for more details.

Read Defenders full press release here.

Regional wolf population drops 7%  – The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service released its Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2012 Interagency Annual Report last Friday afternoon with little fanfare (see coverage from the Missoulian). As previously reported, state wolf populations were down in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming but up in Oregon and Washington. The overall population and number of breeding pairs across the entire six-state region declined about seven percent, with the steepest drop in Wyoming that lost 16 percent of its wolves and 22 percent of its breeding pairs. Fortunately, at least 1,674 wolves and 103 breeding pairs were counted at the end of the year, demonstrating the species resilience so far in the face of aggressive wolf-killing efforts by the states.

Once again, confirmed livestock losses to wolves were extremely low. A total of just 194 cattle and 470 sheep were killed by wolves in 2012 in a region where more than eight million cattle and about a million sheep blanket the landscape, including vast tracts of public lands that are leased to ranchers.

Montana wolf council offers mixed advice – Offering bounties to kill more wolves was one of the suggestions entertained by Montana’s Wolf Advisory Council last week, according to a news report from the Helena Independent Record.  While there was general consensus that Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks was doing a decent job of balancing competing interests, that didn’t stop some council members from pushing for antiquated management practices similar to the eradication campaigns of the 1930s and ‘40s. Others argued that Yellowstone’s wolves do not deserve special treatment even though they are vital to the region’s economy. We’ll have to wait and see if the council has any influence on rules for the upcoming hunting season to be determined next month.

Oregon online townhall recap – In case you missed it, you can read through Wednesday’s live chat about wolf management in Oregon, hosted by Oregonian reporter Harry Esteve.  There were a lot of insightful comments from wolf supporters who want the state to prioritize nonlethal tools that prevent conflict between livestock and wolves instead of allowing ranchers to simply kill wolves that they think are a threat. Here are a few examples:

Comment From Steve and Joy Mamoyac

HB 3452 would declare open season on wolves. The proposed legislation addresses a false problem and simply caters to those entities that will never accept the fact that wolves are here to stay. It is time to say “enough”. If this bill is enacted expect additional legal measures to be initiated that will provide endangered wolves with the protections they require and deserve. Better this bad bill be dismissed and constructive efforts increased to prevent conflict and promote acceptance.

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Comment From Guest

I support only NONLETHAL methods to control wolves. The proposed legislation relies too heavily on the good faith of livestock producers in reporting whether wolves were in the act of killing or feeding on livestock. There is already a prevalent culture among many producers of “shoot, shovel, and shut up,” and this legislation encourages that mentality.

* * *

Comment From Catchalot

No wolves have been killed for 16 months. Wolf numbers are up in Wallowa County, but loss compensation claims decreased from 2011 to 2012 by around 70%, fatal wolf attacks by 60% (from 15 to 6) and total number of attacks by 20% (from 15 to 12). One major difference in 2012 was the use of $25,000 worth of nonlethal tools and practices. So it looks like nonlethal is working. Why then should ranchers to have the right to kill wolves on their own discretion? Don’t you think this would open the door to widespread abuse by those who want nothing more than to exterminate wolves once again? Wolves are still endangered here, there are certainly less than 100 in Oregon. They need protection.

Wolves help bears survive climate change – Bears and wolves in Yellowstone tend to keep to themselves. While wolves may occasionally chase a grizzly bear off an elk carcass, or vice versa, the species are seldom in direct competition. But that doesn’t mean they don’t help each other out indirectly, from time to time. A paper published this year in The Journal of Wildlife Management suggests that wolves may be inadvertently helping bears adjust to new food sources. As cutthroat trout and whitebark pine nuts become more scarce because of climate change, bears are relying more on alternatives like false truffles and elk, including those killed by wolves. This gives at least anecdotal evidence that diverse ecosystems are better equipped to adapt to a changing climate.

Wyoming wolf population falls 15 percent – Wyoming Department of Game and Fish released their 2012 wolf report this week. At the end of 2012 there were a minimum of 277 wolves in the state compared to 328 at the end of 2011, a decline of about 15 percent. A total of 136 wolves died from all causes during the calendar year: 120 from direct or indirect human activity, 14 from natural causes and two from unknown causes. In just a few months after wolves were delisted in Wyoming in September, hunters killed 41 wolves in the trophy game management area and another 25 wolves were killed in the predator zone. Forty-three wolves were killed by state and federal agents in response to livestock losses, five were killed in vehicle collisions, four were killed illegally and two were killed (mysteriously) by “other” means. The only good news, if you can call it that, is that the state may be forced to lower its hunting quota next year in order to maintain 10 breeding pairs outside of Yellowstone National Park.

The wolf population could not withstand another 52-wolf quota without coming dangerously close to the required minimum set in Wyoming’s delisting plan. — Mark Bruscino, Wyo. Game & Fish large carnivore program supervisor

Legislative updates – Sometimes no news is good news, and most of the bills we’ve been following did not advance any farther. The one exception is SB 397 in Montana, which (thankfully) went down in a blaze of glory last night on a committee vote of 17-4. Earlier in the week, 26 opponents attended a House committee hearing, many of them from different hunting organizations that support fair-chase ethics and do not want to see predators carelessly slaughtered. Further opposition came from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks representatives who said that managers already have the tools they need to keep predator and prey species in check. In fact, the only people who supported the bill were spokesmen for Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, a known anti-wolf group that has long espoused getting rid of predators by any means necessary in order to artificially boost elk and deer populations. But most Montanans know that a healthy, balanced ecosystem relies on sustainable numbers of both predator and prey. And while human hunters play a role in keeping game species in check, they are no substitute for having wolves, cougars and bears on the landscape as well.

Photo of two wolves taken by remote camera.

Meet the Wenatchee wolves – Washington has confirmed its tenth pack and two more wolves, bringing the total number of wolves to at least 53. At the end of last month the state Department of Fish and Wildlife caught two wolves on a remote camera in Pitcher Canyon in the Northern Cascades region. One of the wolves, a 1.5-year-old female dispersed from the adjacent Teanaway pack and the other wolf has not yet been identified. We wish these wolves in central Washington the best of luck and hope at least some of them keep heading west toward the Olympic Peninsula. There’s plenty more excellent wolf habitat to explore!

Farewell, Commissioner Ream – Mark another casualty of partisan politics in Montana. Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Bob Ream tendered his resignation yesterday after state senate Republicans told him they planned to oppose his confirmation. Rather than suffer through a “sham hearing,” Ream decided to leave his post. He announced his decision in a letter to Gov. Bullock outlining his impressive credentials and many accomplishments, including 28 years at the University of Montana and 16 years in the Montana House of Representatives. Ream was always a voice of reason and a strong advocate for using sound science as the basis for wildlife management decisions; he will be sorely missed.

Californians in cahoots – Two of our colleagues in California teamed up with a pair of excellent op-eds this past week. Lauren Richie, formerly Defenders national wolf coexistence coordinator and now associate director with the California Wolf Center, wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that the return of wolves to California is a testament to the success of the 40-year-old Endangered Species Act. Restoring wolves in the Northern Rockies under the Act has allowed populations in Washington and Oregon to recover as well, including the dispersal of OR-7 to northern California. But Lauren argues that California now has the opportunity to chart a different course by laying the groundwork for peaceful coexistence with wolves. By fostering collaboration instead of controversy, wildlife managers can help ranchers find ways to share the landscape with wolves rather than killing them unnecessarily, as is the case in the Northern Rockies.

Amaroq Weiss, also a former Defender and now with the Center for Biological Diversity, picked up on a similar note in the Sacramento Bee, noting that Oregon’s recent experience can be instructive for California. She writes that livestock conflicts in Wallowa County, Oregon, which had been a hotbed of wolf attacks, have decreased 60 percent even while the wolf population has continued to grow. The reason? Ranchers have been forced to adopt nonlethal management strategies because of a lawsuit that has temporarily prevented the state from killing wolves. Meanwhile, livestock losses in Idaho have increased substantially even though more than 700 wolves have been killed there in the last two years. Biologists have suggested that killing wolves only disrupts pack structure and makes it more difficult to hunt wild game. As a result, the remaining wolves are more likely to opt for easier prey like livestock than try to chase down an elk or deer, making it even more important for ranchers to take extra steps to protect their animals and deter wolves.

Montana wolf council meeting now – Montana residents, don’t forget that today is the first meeting of the Wolf Advisory Council in more than five years. The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. at FWP headquarters in Helena. Live video streams will be available at FWP regional offices, and an audio stream will be available online. Public comment will begin at 2 p.m. Click here for more details.

Record elk harvest in Wyoming proves there are still plenty to go around.

Crying wolf while shooting elk – In recent years, whenever hunters have trouble finding elk, wolves take the blame. Over and over again we hear that wolves are decimating elk herds, putting outfitters out of business and making it hard on those just trying to feed their families. But here’s a little reality check: Wyoming hunters set a new record this year for killing 26,385 elk, the highest annual total ever recorded in the state’s history. Of course, some will say the reason so many elk were killed this year was because hunters were finally allowed to kill wolves too. But consider that the second highest elk harvest in Wyoming history was in 2010, when wolves were still fully protected under the Endangered Species Act. In fact, over the last decade Wyoming hunters have harvested an average of more than 22,000 elk each year, with more than 40 percent of hunters killing an elk. While there’s no disputing the fact that wolves do prey on elk, there are obviously still plenty of elk to go around. It’s time to stop pretending that all the elk have disappeared now that wolves are back on the landscape. Clearly, there are enough elk for all to share.

Wolf bill bonanza continues – It’s a mix of good news and bad news this week on the state legislative front out West. Here’s a quick run-down:

• (BAD NEWS) Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed SB 2, the appropriations bill that grants $300,000 to anti-wolf lobbyists with Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and Big Game Forever who want to prevent wolves from ever returning to Utah.
• (BAD NEWS) Montana Senate Bill 397, which would expand hunting, trapping, and snaring of predators where elk are below objective, is still alive and well. It has now passed the state senate and only one of the objectionable provisions – allowing the baiting of bears and wolves – has been removed.
• (MIXED NEWS) Montana Senate Bill 200 has also passed both chambers and is likely to be signed by the governor, though it has been significantly watered down since it was first introduced. It would still allow landowners to determine on their own whether to remove any wolves they deem a “potential” threat to livestock, pets or people. Still, it could have been much, much worse.
• (GOOD NEWS) Idaho House Bill 336 failed in the Senate after proponents got crosswise with the state Department of Fish and Game. The bill would have taken money away from the department for conservation programs and handed it over to ranchers for livestock compensation or to kill more wolves.
• (BAD NEWS) Oregon House Bill 3452, sponsored by the Oregon Cattleman’s Association, would expand the state’s authority to kill wolves that are deemed a threat to livestock. The legislation would not require ranchers to take any proactive steps to prevent or minimize their losses using nonlethal deterrents and would grant USDA’s Wildlife Service the authority to kill wolves without consulting state biologists.

Montana’s Wolf Advisory Council will meet for the first time in five years next Friday.

Montana wolf advisory council to reconvene – Gov. Steve Bullock is reconvening a long-dormant stakeholder group, of which Defenders was an original member, to evaluate the effectiveness of wolf management in Montana. The Wolf Advisory Council hasn’t met in five years but used to play a vital role in moderating ongoing debate over wolf management and finding common ground among diverse interests, including wildlife advocates, ranchers and state biologists. Hopefully the council will reaffirm and perhaps strengthen the Montana wolf plan, which is the most moderate in the northern Rockies but is constantly under attack in the state legislature. Their first meeting will be next Friday, April 12 starting at 8:30 a.m. at Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks headquarters in Helena and we will be monitoring the meeting. Live video streams will be available at FWP regional offices, and an audio stream will be available online. Public comment will begin at 2 p.m. Click here for more details.

Politicians crying wolf – Anti-wolfers in Congress served up some dubious assertions this week in a letter sent to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, asking him to strip federal protection for gray wolves nationwide. For example, the letter claims that state governments are “…fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations…” If that were true, how do they explain killing more than 1,100 wolves within two years of delisting in the Northern Rockies, where populations in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are all steadily declining? Or how do they explain Wyoming allowing wolves to be treated like unwanted varmints across 85 percent of the state? And how do they explain the fact that Utah’s state policy is to prevent any wolves from ever returning at all? If that’s responsible management in the eyes of wolf opponents, I’d hate to see what irresponsible management would look like.

Here’s another whopper from the letter: “Unmanaged wolves are devastating livestock and indigenous wildlife.” Maybe if you define devastation as losing less than one percent of livestock annually. But if that’s the case, then livestock are devastated way more by bad weather, disease, theft, and other predators than by wolves. (See USDA’s most recent 5-year cattle death loss report.) It’s also clear from scientific research that wolves are helping to restore balance to ecosystems that were sorely lacking a top predator and being heavily overbrowsed by abundant and sedentary elk and deer on the landscape.

But the anti-wolf contingent in Congress and across the country has never cared about facts or science, only politics and fear. Unfortunately, our nation’s endangered species don’t have checkbooks, nor do they get to vote. So it’s up to the rest of us to hold our elected leaders accountable for their half-truths and misinformation. If your congressmen signed the letter in support of delisting, be sure to contact them and ask them to stop perpetuating myths about wolves. For more information, see this press release from the House Natural Resources Committee and coverage in the Deseret News.

Add another anti-wolf bill to the pile — Turns out we were overly optimistic about the Idaho legislature heading home last week. Apparently a few state legislators were happy to stick around so they could introduce a new bill that funnels money from the sale of wolf hunting tags to ranchers that lose livestock to wolves. If House Bill 336 becomes law, that money would go either be given to Wildlife Services to kill more wolves or be turned over to the Idaho Dept. of Agriculture. Even the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is opposing the bill so they don’t lose even more money for their conservation programs. Revenue from hunting tags is supposed to be invested back into wildlife management that benefits all residents, not handed over to individual ranchers for unconfirmed livestock losses. Further, the diversion will likely cost the state federal matching funds that support conservation. If the state is going to divert money anywhere it should be invested in nonlethal tools that will help ranchers coexist with wolves over the long run. Tell Idaho’s legislators to oppose this bill and support nonlethal management practices that promote coexistence.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 397 is still moving forward in Montana. The bill would expand hunting and trapping of predators, including snaring of wolves, in areas where elk populations are deemed below objective. The traps and predator baits and hound hunting authorized in this bill also threaten grizzly bears, wolverines, and lynx. Our Rocky Mountain Director Mike Leahy testified against the bill this week at a committee hearing as did many hunting conservation groups, but it still passed 6-4 on a party-line vote. There’s still hope that it will be defeated, if not in the state Senate then in the Montana House of Representatives.

A long history – There are few people who know wolves as well as biologist Dave Mech. He wrote the seminal book on wolf biology and behavior in 1970, and was one of the early proponents of restoring wolves to the West. In a commentary on The Wildlife Society News he lays out nearly four decades of wolf conservation efforts, which gave rise to today’s ongoing wolf wars. We don’t agree with everything he has to say – for example, the number of wolves in Canada really has no bearing on how many wolves should be restored to the lower 48 – if that were true, other species like the bald eagle and grizzly bear would never have been recovered in the U.S. But his commentary is a tour de force that should give us all much to think about as we plan for the next four decades of wolf recovery.