Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Gibbon pack in Yellowstone. Photo courtesy of U.S. National Park Service.

More wolf kill bills on the way in the West – Western state legislators are stepping up their efforts to ensure that more wolves get killed. Montana is considering giving away free wolf tags to elk and deer hunters and allowing silencers to be used on rifles late in the season. The state legislature is also fast-tracking a three-pronged bill that would (1) prohibit  wolf hunting and trapping buffer zones around Yellowstone and other national parks, (2) increase the number of wolves an individual can kill, and (3) permit the use of electronic calls. Meanwhile, Washington state ranchers are supporting a bill that would allow any private landowner to kill wolves or other predators at will without permission or oversight from state wildlife managers. Only Oregon is moving forward with responsible legislation that provides more emphasis on nonlethal strategies to prevent conflicts between wolf and livestock .

Good news, bad news for Mexican wolves – The good news is that the overall number of wolves counted in New Mexico and Arizona climbed to 75 this year – the highest total in 15 years and a big improvement over last year’s count of 58. At least 20 new pups were born and survived through the end of the year, and 13 different packs were identified. The bad news is that there are only three breeding pairs.  The lobos are facing a genetic crisis that puts their recovery at risk. That’s why Defenders continues to call for the release of additional wolves, as a first step toward genetic rescue of this rare subspecies. Listen to what Arizona State University biology professor Philip Hedrick had to say about the latest numbers on PNS radio:

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Wolves alone can’t restore ecosystem — By now, most wildlife enthusiasts understand the important role that wolves play in dispersing elk and deer herds away from young aspens, cottonwood and willow trees.  However, nature is a complex system and the interdependence of multiple species is vital to sustaining a healthy ecosystem.  Researchers at Colorado State University found that restoring wolves alone cannot fix all the damage that occurred due to the loss of wolves and that beaver are necessary to help restore the water tables and plants that are the foundation for biodiversity.  The researchers conclude that predators should never be eliminated from their habitat because of the significant impacts that follow their loss.

For the young (or young at heart) who want to have some fun and learn more about the role of wolves in Yellowstone, check out this episode of “Fetch” from PBS Kids.  An interview with Doug Smith, the park’s lead wolf biologist, starts at the 6 minute mark.

The Hidden Life of Wolves – Want to get up-close and personal with a wolf pack in the comfort of your own home? Check out a new book from National Geographic, documenting the lives of wolves in central Idaho.

Eva Sargent, Southwest Program Director

Mexican Wolf (Credit: USFWS/Jim Clark)

The official annual count of Mexican gray wolves – also called lobos – is in!  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finished counting the wolves, but the wolves are still counting on the Service to save them from extinction.

First, the good news:  The population of wild Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico increased from 58 last year to 75 now.   But there are still only three breeding pairs.  The lobos are doing their best to survive – finding each other, chasing elk, avoiding lawbreakers who would kill them just for being wolves, and having pups.   They are inching, year by year, closer to their rightful place in the landscape and culture of the Southwest.  But the truth is, they may not make it.  They came through a tremendous genetic crisis in the past, when the last wild female Mexican wolf in the entire world was brought into captivity to literally save her kind.  This limited genetic heritage, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, continues to haunt the lobos today.  Because they are all closely related, they don’t have a large number of different traits carried in their genes. A high amount of genetic diversity is key to survival – it allows populations to change their biology when conditions change.

So although more wolves is cause for celebration, more pups from the same few breeding pairs won’t be enough to solve the genetic crisis.  In order to express every bit of their genetic potential, the wolves needed to expand their population in the wild years ago.  This opportunity was missed, over and over, when genetically valuable animals were sent back to captivity or killed, when packs were disrupted by being captured and moved, and when too few animals were released.  Now, it will take heroic efforts, probably including extreme steps like in vitro fertilization using stored semen or eggs from wolves that died years ago, to try to improve the genetic future for Mexican gray wolves. The Service needs to get moving on this genetic emergency immediately.  The first step is to release more wolves.

Releasing more wolves is a little more difficult than it sounds, but the Service has the authority, means, and responsibility to get this done in a hurry. Only two wolves have been released from captivity since 2006. One of these was illegally shot, and the other was returned to captivity the other day to give him a better chance at pairing with a female.  The Service needs to get this new pair out in the wild as quickly as possible, and immediately get many more wolves warming up in the bullpen, ready to go, because the current slow dribble of new genes into the wild isn’t enough. The Service must assert its authority and do what needs to be done for the wolves’ sake. What the Service does now will determine whether or not our lobos can survive and recover.

When Mexican wolves need help, Defenders turns up the heat on decision makers. We count on you – who understand the importance of lobos in the big scheme of Nature – to help us pressure those in power to do the right thing.  Please make sure you are getting Defenders e-alerts!  That way I can let you know quickly when your emails, meeting attendance, phone calls, petition signing or letter writing can really make a difference.  In March, we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the first release of captive-born Mexican gray wolves into the wild.  There will be plenty to do to make sure the lobos are not just surviving, but thriving.  I hope you will join me in this fight.

Eva Sargent, Southwest Program Director

Mexican gray wolves, according to science and common sense, are the most endangered wolf in the world.  We should have a new count in a couple of weeks, but last year there were fewer than 60 wild Mexican wolves in the entire world.  They are all offspring of the emergency captive breeding effort that saved the species from extinction – an Endangered Species Act miracle, really.  But what’s happened since then, since the first captive-bred Mexican gray wolves put their paws on the wild ground in 1998, is more frustrating.

Mexican gray wolf

Because the entire population is derived from only seven wolves (a brush with extinction that no critters should come close to), they didn’t have a great deal of genetic diversity. That is, they didn’t have a large number of different traits carried in their genes. A high amount of genetic diversity is the engine of adaptability – it allows populations to change their biology when conditions change, and that’s key to survival. The captive population has been carefully managed to preserve genetic diversity, but this only goes so far. From the beginning, geneticists knew that in order to overcome their limited genetic heritage, the Mexican gray wolves would need to rapidly expand their numbers beyond what was possible in captivity. They needed to get out of the zoos that had taken such care to save them and really take off in the wild.  By reproducing quickly in the wild, they would express every ounce of genetic diversity they had in their genes.  The wolves did their part immediately – pairing up, denning up, eating elk and having puppies.

Unfortunately, humans haven’t held up their part of the deal, and the population has never expanded fast enough to preserve their genetic diversity.  Overzealous management and a lack of political will have kept the numbers low. Now, nearly 15 years after the first wolves were released, the Mexican gray wolf is facing a genetic emergency that could keep them from ever recovering. Already, it  seems that a lack of genetic diversity is causing lower litter sizes. If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t act soon to release more wolves, this and other effects of a small gene pool could doom the species, no matter how hard we try in the future to recover them.

Many opportunities to improve the genetics of Mexican gray wolves have been squandered.  Instead of supporting stable, reproducing packs, wolves are captured and moved around because they get into trouble, or cross the invisible boundaries of their small recovery area in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.  Until recently, many were sent back to captivity, and some were killed, for eating livestock.  These removals were indiscriminate – it didn’t matter if the suspected cattle-eater was a mom with pups, or a genetically valuable dad. With the future of the species relying on so few individuals in the wild, we – joined by several other conservation groups – went to court over this issue, and as part of the settlement, this disastrous removal policy was ended. But its effects linger – there are still too few wolves, and too few with the best genes to keep the species on the road to recovery.

There are other pressures too; despite their protected status, illegal killing is the largest source of dead wolves.  But the window is closing on fixing the genetic issue, and one solution is amazingly simple: Release more wolves from captivity, and do it now.

Mexican gray wolf

The last time a wolf from captivity was released was in 2008.  Since then, there have been roadblocks and reasons and excuses, but no one has demonstrated the gumption necessary to get the job done. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for recovering Mexican gray wolves, has waited with an absurd amount of patience for agreement from the states before acting, and all at the wolves’ expense.  Opportunities have been lost, and they won’t be regained.  Finally, last week, they decided to release a single male wolf in hopes that he will pair with a female of the Bluestem pack, whose mate was illegally shot and killed last year.

Of course all of us who work on Mexican gray wolf recovery are grateful for this small step in the right direction, and we hope this new male gets right down to business saving the species. But much more needs to be done, and soon, or it will be too late.  The geneticists who have spent years sounding the alarm haven’t stopped, and Defenders won’t stop, until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implements an emergency genetic rescue plan for the Mexican gray wolf. Such a plan would entail selective breeding in captivity, perhaps even using in vitro fertilization, to recreate the genetic makeup of the founding wolves. Still, one of the easiest steps this plan would include is to release more wolves into the wild. We’ll keep you posted on our progress with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Meanwhile, stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed for an increase in the 2012 count, due in a few weeks.  More wolves from the same old breeding pairs won’t solve the genetic issue, but it will improve the outlook for the most endangered wolf on the planet.

Craig Miller, Southwest Representative

One of the most interesting aspects of my job as Southwest Representative for Defenders of Wildlife is our collaborative work with the White Mountain Apache Tribe, focused on helping endangered Mexican gray wolves return to the landscape. What I’ve learned from working closely with tribal biologists, elders and Apache cowboys is that a much deeper connection between Apache people and the land is what drives their efforts to restore Mexican wolves, as well as Apache trout, Mexican spotted owls and the mountains, forests, lakes and streams that make up their home. In Apache, the word Shii ne’ means both mind and land — they are one and the same. To traditional Apaches, restoring wolves and taking care of the land is about much more than just preventing extinction or achieving sustainable use of resources. It is about restoring and maintaining harmony between mind and land.

These tribal lands are in the perfect place to help support Mexican wolf recovery by providing a vital link between two recovery areas.

The White Mountain Apache Tribe welcomes wolves onto its 1.6 million acres, known as the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Apache lands are comprised of mostly excellent wolf habitat and are considered the crown jewel of Arizona’s Central Highlands. Apache tribal land is largely undeveloped, and includes much of the largest contiguous Ponderosa pine forest in the world, which spans 400 miles from the Grand Canyon in Arizona to the Gila country in New Mexico. This wild landscape lies immediately adjacent to the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, where an effort to return highly endangered Mexican wolves to the wild is currently underway. Because of its location between the current wolf recovery area and excellent wolf habitat further to the west in the Grand Canyon eco-region, tribal lands will play a pivotal role in Mexican gray wolf recovery. This species was eradicated by 1980, but saved by the Endangered Species Act, a captive breeding program and subsequent reintroduction into the wild. As of last year’s population count, there were only 58 documented Mexican wolves in the wild, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers the species to be the most endangered land mammal in North America.

“The Apache People respect every creature on the land; the mighty Creator has them here for a purpose. That’s why we want to bring the Mexican wolf back to its home, which is White Mountain Apache land.” – Krista Beazley, White Mountain Apache Tribal Member

To help support the tribe’s wolf program, Defenders has provided equipment and training to tribal wildlife staff. Defenders’ members and supporters — through the Wildlife Volunteer Corps — have also helped out, rolling up their sleeves alongside tribal members to help them prepare to host wolf-themed tours. These culture and wildlife tours are a reflection of the White Mountain Apache’s leadership in the wolf recovery program. They also help bring much-needed tourist dollars to create jobs, foster skills and talents and bring those that revere the wolf to a place where wolves and people may learn to live in harmony once again.

Apache crown dancers

This summer, the White Mountain Apache Tribe hosted a special event on tribal lands as part of the Paseo del Lobo (Path of the Wolf) 400-mile community wolf-awareness relay hike across Arizona. Paseo del Lobo, organized by the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project and co-sponsored by Defenders, emphasized the importance of wolf recovery and the connectivity of the landscape through organized hikes and community events along the path that two Mexican wolves — members of a wild population reestablished through introduction — took as they dispersed from the current wolf recovery area and moved into suitable wolf habitat near Flagstaff, Arizona. During the White Mountain Apache events, participants were welcomed by the tribe at a camp in a beautiful aspen forest on Sunrise Mountain, where we enjoyed traditional storytelling, fireside crown dancers, bow-making/flint-napping, medicinal plant use demonstrations, frybread making, traditional meals, horseback riding and interaction with elders and the tribe’s wolf management team. While the tribe considers all information regarding endangered species on tribal lands to be sensitive, Paseo del Lobo participants were treated to stories of the three wolf packs that live on tribal lands: Maverick, Tsay o Ah and Paradise.

I don’t want to paint the picture that Mexican wolf recovery on tribal lands is without conflict or concern. Tribal guides have concerns about the potential impact of wolves on elk, and how a growing wolf population may impact hunting opportunities, which are another significant source of funding and jobs for the tribe. Similarly, the tribe’s livestock associations graze cattle in wolf-occupied areas, and have experienced some losses to wolves. For the past 10 years, we have been working with the tribe on livestock compensation and wolf-monitoring. More recently, we’ve developed range-rider and grazing programs to reduce conflicts between wolves and cattle. Based on our successful coexistence work with ranchers in other wolf-occupied areas, these partnerships offer much hope for the future of wolves, and for those ranchers working to assist with their return.

An Apache cowboy sets a motion sensor camera to monitor wolves as part of an effort to avoid wolf-livestock conflicts.

This summer, members of the Turkey Creek Livestock Association joined me at a range-rider workshop in Reserve, New Mexico to learn about the latest tools and techniques for conflict avoidance. After the workshop, we developed a plan to help minimize wolf interactions with livestock. As part of this, Defenders provided hay and materials to assist with herding cattle and diversionary feeding, to draw livestock away from areas where they could be more vulnerable to wolf depredations. Defenders also provided motion-sensor cameras to the livestock association, and I spent time in the field with tribal wolf technicians and cowboys demonstrating how to use them as a non-invasive way to monitor wolves. The camera-monitoring project is an efficient way to learn where the wolves are spending their time, which can help guide livestock management. I am currently working with the tribe to turn this monitoring project into an incentive program that rewards the tribal livestock associations with payment for each photo of a wolf. These funds can, in turn, be used by the associations to purchase tack and other tools, and we’re hopeful that the payments based on wolves presence will encourage tolerance for a growing wolf population.

Through my work with the White Mountain Apache I’ve made many friends who have generously shared their views of the world with me. I see the Apache’s Shii ne‘ — mind-land harmony — as one of the most beautiful and important things in this life, and it is an honor to be part of an effort to restore wolves to the landscape in a way that promotes coexistence between humans and nature, and helps us return to that all-too-elusive harmony.

Heather Murray, Legal Fellow

A view of the Patagonia mountains.

At the intersection of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northeastern Mexico lie the “Sky Islands,” a 70,000-square-mile region known for its forested “island” mountain ranges, which are isolated from one another by vast stretches of grassland and desert.  The Sky Islands contain some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, providing habitat for more than half of all North American bird species, 29 bat species, more than 3,000 species of plants, more than 100 species of mammals and at least 28 threatened and endangered species.

To learn more about this irreplaceable landscape and the threats it faces, staff attorney Greg Buppert and I traveled to Patagonia, Arizona, a town of fewer than 1,000 people located just over 10 miles from the Mexican border.  From there, we ventured out into the Patagonia Mountains, guided by our local partners from the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and Ron Pulliam, ecologist and Defenders board member. Words and photos cannot fully convey the sense of awe one feels when hiking through these mountains. It is truly a special place, and the community has such a strong connection to the natural world that you almost begin to wonder how anyone could be satisfied living anywhere else.

Jaguar (Photo credit: USFWS)

This region is also home to one of the Southwest’s most iconic species – the jaguar.  While the jaguar’s range once covered much of the southern U.S., habitat loss and hunting caused U.S. jaguar populations to decline sharply in the past century.  Recent sightings provide hope that the species has begun to reoccupy its historical habitat here, but the jaguar — and many other species — depend on the intact and unspoiled habitat in the Patagonia Mountains for survival.  Mountain ranges like these, which span north to south across the border, connect Mexican populations of jaguars and ocelots to habitat in the U.S. Keeping this habitat connected allows breeding populations of jaguars in Mexico to disperse northward into the U.S., which is crucial to the successful recovery of U.S. jaguar populations. The Patagonias also provide critical habitat for Mexican spotted owls — we even visited one canyon where an established breeding pair has been sighted — and the lesser long-nosed bat relies on the mountains’ abundant supply of agave during its migration.

Unfortunately, international mining companies hold claims to thousands of acres of national forest lands in the Patagonia Mountains, and are attempting to bring industrial-scale surface mining to this remote range. These vast, open-pit mines would decimate the environment and have far-ranging impacts on everything from water quality to wildlife habitat. The Forest Service and mining companies downplay the impact of mining on the environment, but these activities have caused significant erosion, wildfires, and the presence of toxic chemicals in the environment.

This land is privately owned, but surrounded by national forest. You can see where the company has cleared away vegetation and created roads, both leading to significant erosion.

We visited several “reclaimed” mining sites, which are still easily identified by their lack of vegetation, excessive erosion, and deep cuts into the mountainside, as well as the debris, sediment piles, and evaporation pits that are left behind. Walking through these areas, it is hard to believe that the Forest Service would claim that mining activities have so little impact, or would not deter wildlife from using this habitat, given that the landscape has been so thoroughly transformed.

Last winter, Defenders of Wildlife — along with the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and Sky Island Alliance — sued the Forest Service for approving an exploratory drilling project in the Patagonias without conducting any environmental review. The Forest Service had concluded that the impacts from exploratory drilling would be minor and insignificant, and would not affect listed species in the area. We challenged this assumption, and — based on the opinions of scientific experts, studies and reports, observations of local residents, and even documents from the Forest Service itself — demonstrated that the project area contained suitable habitat for listed species like the jaguar, and that the destruction caused by previous mining activities resulted in significant and lasting environmental impacts. Once we filed our lawsuit, the Forest Service withdrew its approval of the project, and the fragile ecosystem of the Patagonias remains protected, at least for now.

Heather, Greg and others hiking through the Patagonias

Fortunately, our partners in Patagonia — including Ron Pulliam, the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and members of the local community — are working hard to ensure that mining does not destroy the area’s high ecological value.  They are conducting citizen science workshops, educating the community about the impacts of mining, hosting comment-writing workshops, working to protect the town’s watershed, conducting habitat restoration work, and engaging in many other activities. Perhaps most importantly, they’re educating the local community about the federal laws that allow citizens to participate in the decision-making process, so that the people who live in this region can voice their concerns about how mining activities will impact these mountains. While Patagonia was historically a mining town, most mining activity was of a much smaller scale and occurred there many decades ago. Today, the local economy is largely based on eco-tourism, and would be devastated by new mining activity in the area. Increased mining in the Patagonias would also sever the link between jaguar and ocelot habitat in the U.S. and Mexico, interfere with Mexican spotted owl nesting and breeding, limit food supplies for lesser long-nosed bats, and cause a great deal of harm to the ecosystem as a whole.

The risks to this fragile ecosystem and imperiled wildlife are simply too high to allow the Forest Service to prioritize the interests of mining companies and investors over conservation. Defenders will continue to track future mining projects in the Patagonias, and work to protect the irreplaceable habitat found there. After seeing these incredible mountains and the destructive impacts of mining first-hand, it is clearer than ever that this rare and special place deserves to be preserved.

The Department of the Interior may not be what one would call a higher power, but on September 14, they graced us all by designating the nation’s 558^th National Wildlife Refuge Unit in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo —“blood of Christ” — Mountains.

Spanning throughout southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are known for breathtaking landscapes and abundant recreational opportunities. Numerous types of uncommon, region-specific wildlife also call the place home, including the Canada lynx, Gunnison sage grouse, Rio Grande cutthroat trout, and Lewis’ woodpecker.

The land was donated by conservationist Louis Bacon and encompasses 77,000 acres of his Trinchera Ranch property in the mountains. These acres, combined with the anticipated donation of his 90,000 acre Blanca Ranch later this year, will mark the largest private land donation ever received by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The donation also represents an unusual three-way agreement between the federal government, a private land owner, and an environmental land trust (Colorado Open Lands, a local organization dedicated to land conservation). Under the agreement, the land will technically remain under Bacon’s ownership, but will have restrictions on development and increased habitat protections as overseen by the Fish and Wildlife Service as well as Colorado Open Lands.

So what does it all mean? Colorado now has 77,000 more acres that will be actively managed for the preservation of the wildlife and habitats within it. Further, it represents a level of cooperation between several organizations that is not about money or showmanship, but hopefully the increased preservation of diverse wildlife in an area filled with it. It represents a hope that separate parties with often disparate interests can work together to protect valuable land and the wildlife that goes along with it.

To learn more about the Department of the Interior’s establishment of the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area, please read their news release on the conservation announcement.

Canada lynx are highly elusive forest cats that can be found in what will be the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area.