“Delistings are premature” – It may turn out to be too little, too late, but even the New York Times agrees that the feds shouldn’t give up on wolves so soon. An editorial from veteran Times writer Verlyn Klinkenborg on Sunday said Congress and the Interior Department are putting politics before science in pushing for delisting of almost all gray wolves nationwide:

“Interior’s plan has little to do with science and everything to do with politics. Congress bludgeoned President Obama’s first interior secretary, Ken Salazar, into delisting the Rocky Mountain wolf. But there is no reason his successor, Sally Jewell, has to accept a plan to delist the wolves everywhere. It is hard enough to protect species that occupy hidden ecological niches. Politics has made it harder still to protect an intelligent, adaptive predator living openly in the wild.”

A herder sets up fladry to keep wolves away from sheep in central Idaho.

More money for making peace – No matter what their status is under the Endangered Species Act, it’s clear that the future of the species depends on our ability to find ways for wolves and livestock to safely share the landscape. For more than two decades, Defenders has paved the way with our compensation and coexistence programs. It took a while for the federal government to catch up, but this week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the renewal of a grant program that will provide $850,000 to states and tribes to benefit wolf conservation. The Wolf-Livestock Demonstration Project Grants provide funds for both compensation and projects to implement nonlethal deterrents and other proactive management strategies designed to prevent livestock losses to wolves.

Defenders assisted with the development of this program, and we insisted on the inclusion of a provision to make sure that half of the funds are used for coexistence, not just compensation.  We are also offering to share our decades of expertise to help grant recipients carry out successful projects that protect both their livestock and our wildlife. Hundreds of state, federal and tribal representatives have taken our training programs to learn more about the use of nonlethal deterrents like fladry, carcass removal, livestock guarding dogs, lighting and sound scare devices.  On June 20 and 21, we are offering another training workshop in central Idaho to teach about and demonstrate the use of these important  wolf conservation methods. We are thrilled to see more and more ranchers, biologists and organizations using nonlethal coexistence strategies for safeguarding livestock and wolves.

A lion, a marten, a bear, oh my! – Speaking of successful coexistence, the sixth season of our Wood River Wolf Project in central Idaho is well underway. Our field crew has begun monitoring key areas where wolves and sheep are likely to cross paths this summer, and they’re setting up motion-activated cameras to see what animals are already passing through. No wolves have been caught on camera just yet, but they did capture images of cougars, bears, coyotes, foxes, martens, elk, deer, antelope, grouse, a raptor and some unidentified blurs across the screen. See photos below.

Black bear

Mountain lion

Marten (look closely for the squirrel-like critter on the downed tree)

“Give wolves a chance” – Sometimes, when I get down about how wolves are being managed in the Northern Rockies, I simply look to the Southwest, where the situation is even more dire. Though numbers have increased slightly in recent years, there are still only 75 Mexican gray wolves spread out across southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. An editorial from The Arizona Republic this week reminded me how precariously this tiny population is perched, and how serious the challenges are facing Mexican gray wolves:

• Since 1998, at least 46 Mexican gray wolves have been killed illegally
• Many more wolves need to be released to solve genetic and demographic issues
• Additional populations need to be established — don’t keep all your lobos in one basket!
• There is still not an up-to-date, scientifically sound recovery plan in place

Be sure to watch the video included with article that encapsulates the views of many who are more inclined to shoot, rather than protect, the wolves are nation is still struggling to restore.

I once spotted and photographed a family of javelinas on the U.S./Mexico border near the San Pedro River in southeast Arizona.  Through my camera lens, I watched the silhouette of an adult javelina cautiously approach the ominous border wall, and stop with a grunt.  It was a haunting image.  I can’t pretend to know what natural instinct brought the javelina to the border that day, but seeing those wild creatures literally cut off from their habitat by a steel wall stretching on for miles beyond sight – it really stuck with me.

A lone animal faces the impenetrable border wall. (Photo: Matt Clark, Defenders of Wildlife)

Ironically, on a prior visit to this same location, I was guided by a local landowner to a spot where someone had used a simple nylon rope to scale and defeat the wall in seconds.  Walls, no matter how tall and well-reinforced, will never succeed in keeping determined people from crossing the border illegally.  Sadly though, these same walls will, and do, stop wildlife in their tracks, denying them the territory, resources and genetic exchange they need in order to survive and adapt in the arid environment of the borderlands.

A scientific study I contributed to, published in Conservation Biology in 2009, concluded that dispersal movements and population dynamics of many wildlife species could be significantly affected by security infrastructure, especially those species that are land-bound and large enough for walls to keep them out, those that fly at heights lower than 13 feet as they disperse, or those that rely on continuous habitat for cover or perches.  Just a small sample of species whose transboundary movements could be further compromised by barriers and other developments at the border include desert bighorn sheep, mountain lion, black bear, desert tortoise, pronghorn, pygmy owl, wild turkey and the endangered jaguar and ocelot.

Unfortunately, when crafting border security-related legislation in the past, many in Congress have ignored major environmental concerns and have trampled the rule of law itself in their zeal to seal the border.  In 2005, Congress passed a controversial provision in the Real ID Act (Section 102) to waive dozens of laws in order to construct hundreds of miles of damaging border walls and roads.  The 37 laws that were swept under the mat include bipartisan legislation passed to protect public health, farmland, Native American graves and freedoms, historic sites, wildlife and other sensitive natural resources.  This unprecedented waiver authority, which allows a political appointee – the Secretary of Homeland Security — to waive any and all laws of the United States, has resulted in avoidable and expensive environmental and property damage, created numerous safety hazards, and has harmed interagency cooperation and trust.

Bighorn sheep are just one of many species that are put at risk by the borderlines. (Photo: Sandy Sisti)

A poll conducted by YouGov in 2011 found that 64% of those polled oppose giving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) discretion to waive environmental and other laws to build border infrastructure, and an identical number oppose congressional efforts to permanently waive such laws for border security.  This same poll found that the vast majority of Americans (92%) strongly prefer beefing up efforts at the Ports of Entry over spending billions of dollars on hundreds of miles of fencing in between the Ports.

The past damage done is bad enough, but now new threats are coming into play. Specific provisions in the immigration reform bill (S. 744) introduced into the Senate, run counter to public opinion and common sense.  The current version of S.744 would force DHS to develop a separate “Southern Border Fencing Strategy” and spend hundreds of millions to build yet more ineffective, environmentally harmful border walls. A very problematic provision in S. 744 would also further expand the existing waiver authority, enabling DHS to operate above the law for all border infrastructure and operations along the Southwest border, including building a sprawling network of forward operating bases, checkpoints, security camera tower s, roads and bright night lighting along the border and interior.  Collectively, this would add up to an unregulated, unmitigated environmental disaster with no accountability whatsoever.  To avoid such foreseeable folly, immigration reform legislation should be stripped of provisions that would enable walls and waivers. The proposal in S.744 for an even more expansive waiver is an unnecessary overreach – federal agencies are already operating effectively under an interagency agreement in place since 2006 that enables Border Patrol to have ready access to all lands along the border – including in designated wilderness – when a situation necessitates it.

The border wall extends for 670 miles, blocking wildlife from habitats. (Photo: Matt Clark, Defenders of Wildlife)

Even the current head of the DHS, Janet Napolitano, does not agree with the provision in S.744 that would dictate more wall building.  When testifying before Congress on the provision that would require dedicated funding for more walls she said, “We would prefer having money not so designated so that we can look at technology, air-based, ground-based, manpower, other needs that may be more fitting to prevent illegal flows across the Southwest border.”  This is the same reasoned voice who, as Arizona’s governor, bluntly stated: “You show me a 50-foot wall and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border. That’s the way the border works.”

What the border needs is not another set of ineffective, ecologically harmful walls and unpopular waivers, but rather more ingenuity and interagency collaboration that will foster the development of common sense, win-win solutions for both security and environmental concerns.

A 2010 report on interagency cooperation on U.S./Mexico border wilderness issues listed many successful efforts in the past where agencies have worked together to bolster border security. The report concludes: “The twin values of national security and public lands stewardship can be simultaneously fulfilled, but it will take continued interagency cooperation to assure this happens.”  The practice of waiving laws as a means to an ends is counterproductive; doing so only serves to eliminate the critical public processes and damage the trust that enables such interagency cooperation to occur and thrive.  As a nation, we can and must do better than walls and waivers. The future of our diverse borderlands region, and the wildlife it supports, depend on it.

“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.

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.

Patagonia Mountains – rich habitat for wildlife in the southwest ©Matt Clark

If you are anything like me, you might get to feeling pessimistic sometimes because of all of the alarming news we hear about the growing extinction crisis, climate change and a plethora of other wildlife woes. The renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold once wrote, “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.” Since Leopold’s day, science has deepened our understanding of these ecological wounds and their consequences for wildlife – and has also revealed promising solutions.

Though most understand the damage done when a species’ habitat is destroyed, we often overlook the damage that comes from breaking the habitat into smaller pieces or crisscrossing it with roads and other barriers. When native habitats become too small, isolated and fragmented, they can’t support healthy wildlife populations.

Here in Defenders’ Southwest office, we’ve partnered with the Wildlands Network and a dozen or more of North America’s most respected conservation organizations to protect, connect and restore a contiguous network of lands along the spine of the Rocky Mountains and associated ranges, basins, plateaus, and deserts – all the way from Alaska’s Brooks Range to the Mexican Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico. These habitats need to be stitched back together so that wildlife can survive in a crowded world, and can shift their ranges as climate change rapidly alters the environment.

A family of javelina trapped at the border fence that cuts across their habitat (©Matt Clark)

To bring attention to wildlife corridor conservation, outdoor adventurer John Davis is biking, hiking and paddling along a 5,000-mile journey from Mexico to Canada, highlighting the need for wildlife habitat and corridor protection on a local and international scale – a journey dubbed TrekWest. Along the way, John is pointing out projects by organizations, private landowners and decision-makers that have helped to protect or restore vital habitats and corridors. I joined John Davis and our local conservation partners on the trail for the second regional leg of his continental journey. We guided John to important places in the Sky Islands Ecoregion – one of Defenders’ focal landscapes – to highlight promising projects that aim to maintain and restore habitat connectivity.

While TrekWest is mostly about highlighting solutions and successes, we were also compelled to show John some of the obstacles to wildlife in the Sky Islands. We brought John to see the antithesis of habitat connectivity: the 20-foot-tall border wall that Customs and Border Protection has constructed along vast swaths of the border with Mexico, straight through prime wildlife habitat. Defenders led the charge against this massive project at the time, but sadly the construction continued without public input and via the waiving of important laws. On previous trips to the border, I have witnessed the wall’s effects on wildlife. I photographed a family of javelina (wild pigs) cut off from the Mexican part of their range, and have seen deer and mountain lions similarly stymied. Some of the more rugged, north/south wildlife corridors that span the border do not yet have walls constructed across them, and we hope they will never be built.

Jaguars like these are just beginning to make their way back into Arizona – but disconnected habitats make it a challenge.

Another threat we could not sugar-coat for John is a number of mining proposals in the region. We visited the site of the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, just south of Tucson. If this open pit mine proceeds despite strong local opposition and legal challenges, it would destroy and fragment habitat for a wide range of species, including the jaguar. We also brought John to the Patagonia Mountains (a crucial, cross-border mountain range) and showed him the site of the proposed “Wildcat” silver mine. If constructed, this would be the second largest silver mine in the world – and like Rosemont, it would destroy thousands of acres of habitat and sever its connections for many wildlife species including the endangered jaguar, ocelot, and lesser long-nosed bat and the threatened Mexican spotted owl. Defenders is working with partner organizations such as Sky Island Alliance and the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance to prevent this mine from becoming the newest ecological wound to the region.

On the positive side, I helped to guide John on a hike to tour a local wildlife linkage that connects the Santa Catalina Mountains to the Tortolita Mountains. The connection between these two habitats was severed by urban development and a heavily traveled state highway (SR 77). The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, of which Defenders is an active member, has worked tirelessly with stakeholders to protect the threads of habitat that remain intact. The Coalition also helped convince the Regional Transportation Authority to build wildlife underpasses, and an ambitious overpass, to enable wildlife to pass safely across SR 77. Once built, these wildlife-dedicated structures will give deer, fox, coyote, bobcat, mountain lion and other wildlife a way to cross from one habitat to the next without putting themselves or drivers at risk.

The bridge over Davidson Canyon allows wildlife to cross under Interstate 10 (©Matt Clark)

Later, I met up with John and staff from Sky Island Alliance on a hike through Davidson Canyon, a crucial wildlife corridor that links the Rincon Mountains and Pima County’s Cienega Creek Natural Preserve with the Santa Rita Mountains. The canyon is particularly important because the highway’s bridge gives wildlife a place to safely cross beneath Interstate 10. We documented many tracks near the bridge left behind by roadrunner, opossum, fox, coyote, bobcat and cougar. Black bear have also been documented utilizing this corridor. Sky Island Alliance is working with the transportation department and the county to ensure that this corridor remains functional for the free-flow of wildlife movement. These are but a couple of shining examples of how we are collectively working together to ensure wildlife has room to roam.

I believe that the most important factor that has changed since Aldo Leopold’s time is that we are no longer alone as we face these ecological challenges. We are a part of a strong and growing network of well-informed, passionate people working together toward a common and noble cause: the conservation and restoration of our natural heritage. For me, connectivity conservation fuels the flame of hope. It is a way we can give wildlife a fighting chance to survive in an increasingly fragmented and warming world.

Restoring a Desert Eagle

by John Motsinger, Communications Specialist

Aplomado falcons cover a lot of ground. Three different subspecies span the Americas from the southwestern United States to the tip of Argentina. They live in tropical swamps as well as Andean mountaintops. Yet these aggressive hunters disappeared from the northern part of their range sixty years ago and have only recently started to make a comeback.

The Northern Aplomado falcon is a midsize, slate-gray bird of prey, similar to a peregrine falcon with long tail and wings. In the southwestern United States the species mostly inhabits desert grasslands and open savannahs, where falcons like to hunt small birds among yucca plants and mesquite trees. They use large stick nests built by other birds, and breed in pairs with the female typically laying two or three eggs.

Historically, the northern subspecies’ range extended into large parts of west Texas and southern New Mexico, as well as much of northern Mexico. But the U.S. population declined sharply in the early 1900s as a result of fire suppression, overgrazing and agriculture that altered native desert prairies. By the late 1950s, habitat loss and poisoning from harmful pesticides like DDT had completely wiped out Aplomado falcons in the Southwest.

Fortunately, the northern Aplomado falcon was given protection under the ESA in 1986, and recovery efforts were set in motion soon thereafter. More than 1,000 captive-bred falcons have since been released in the wild, and hundreds of chicks have been successfully reared. The key to success has been lasting partnerships with west Texas ranchers and the U.S. military in New Mexico, conserving the species on both public and private lands. These partners have entered into flexible agreements to secure habitat for falcons while allowing activities such as running cattle or testing missiles to continue without additional restrictions.

Aplomado falcon in Chihuahua, Mexico. Photo courtesy of NASA.gov

Through these partnerships, Aplomado falcons have started to gain a talon-hold on recovery. Biologists have observed dozens of nesting pairs, and many are now breeding successfully. But with additional resources, new or improved conservation strategies, and continued collaboration with local partners, Aplomado falcons can take another big step toward recovery. The federal recovery objective to down-list the species from “endangered” to “threatened” requires a minimum self-sustaining population of 60 pairs in the U.S. That modest goal seems very attainable over the next ten years.

In its 2012 biennial review of imperiled species, the New Mexico Department of Fish and Game suggested that updating the Aplomado falcon recovery plan could result in new conservation strategies that would enhance the species’ chances of recovery. Defenders supports continued efforts by the Peregrine Fund to breed falcons in captivity and cooperate with agencies and landowners to release them into the wild.  We also support additional work to control invasive shrubs and mesquite that have taken over much of the falcon’s habitat in the U.S.  Landowner partnerships like the Malpai Borderlands Group have made exemplary progress in restoring such grasslands.  More work is now needed to protect falcon habitat in Mexico, where many areas have been lost as arid grassland is converted into irrigated agricultural fields.

With more money available, better monitoring, and a few new partnerships, legions of Aplomado falcons could someday be soaring over the New Mexico and west Texas desert once again. Defenders will be working hard to ensure resources are available to make that happen sooner rather than later.

Learn more what you can do to help accelerate the recovery of America’s imperiled wildlife by joining our Conservation Crossroads campaign.