yMexican Wolves Welcome in U.S. Southwest
12/29/96
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Mexican Wolves Welcome in U.S. Southwest
Posted to the web: Fri Dec 20 16:09:51 EST 1996
Copyright 1996 Environment News Service
WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 20'96 (ENS) - The Mexican gray wolf, now extinct in
the wild in the United States, would be reintroduced to part of its
historic range on public lands in Arizona and New Mexico under a U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recommendation released Thursday. The
recommendation to reintroduce wolves on public lands is the "preferred
alternative" in a final environmental impact statement issued by the
Service. The public now has the opportunity to comment during the next 30
days.
Under the plan, the wolves would be classified as a "nonessential
experimental" population under the Endangered Species Act. This would allow
the wolves to be managed with fewer restrictions than those normally
covering endangered species.
No decision on whether to proceed with the Service's proposal will be made
until after completion of a required 30-day public review period on the
final environmental impact statement. After the review period, Secretary of
the Interior Bruce Babbitt will issue a final "record of decision."
If the plan is approved, Mexican wolves would be released first in eastern
Arizona in the Apache National Forest and allowed to disperse into the Gila
National Forest in New Mexico. The combined Apache and Gila national
forests comprise the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, which includes portions
of Apache and Greenlee counties in Arizona and portions of Catron, Grant,
and Sierra counties in New Mexico. If considered necessary and feasible,
other wolves could later be released into the White Sands Wolf Recovery
Area (on the White Sands Missile Range), which includes portions of Dona
Ana, Lincoln, Otero, and Socorro counties in New Mexico.
Under this plan, the wolf recovery areas will include only public lands. If
wolves move beyond the recovery area boundaries onto private or Tribal
lands, they would be removed unless the land managers want to allow them to
remain.
If a decision is made to proceed with reintroduction, the first release of
wolves could occur about 1 year after the decision. The wolves that would
be released would come from a captive population maintained in zoos,
wildlife sanctuaries, and other facilities in the United States and Mexico.
The reintroduction proposal for the Mexican gray wolf contains no land-use
restrictions or prohibitions on private and Tribal lands and no major
restrictions on public lands. Outside the few small areas on public lands
where temporary restrictions might be imposed to protect denning wolves,
for example, traditional uses such as logging, grazing, mining, military
activities, and hunting would be unaffected by the Mexican gray wolf
reintroduction.
The recovery objective is to re-establish 100 wild wolves across more than
5,000 square miles by about the year 2005. The Service and its partners
will monitor, evaluate, and manage the wolves, including moving those that
leave the recovery areas or cause significant conflict, such as harming
livestock.
The "nonessential experimental" designation proposed for the wolves was
recently used for the California condors reintroduced into northern Arizona
and has been successfully used for the gray wolves reintroduced into
Yellowstone National Park and Idaho. No critical habitat may be proposed
for experimental populations and, generally, Endangered Species Act
restrictions would be fewer than usually required for listed species.
A wolf that is killed, for example as a result of automobile collisions or
military training, would not be a violation of the law when it is
incidental to a legal activity and is promptly reported. In addition,
wolves may be killed in defense of human life or by ranchers if the wolves
are attacking livestock on their property.
The Mexican wolf, also known as the "lobo," is among the smallest of North
American gray wolves. Adults weight 50 to 90 pounds, average 4-1/2 to 5-1/2
feet in total length, and reach 26 to 32 inches in height at the shoulder.
Its pelt color varies. It is genetically distinct from all other wolves and
is one of the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in the world. Intensive
predator removal efforts from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s extirpated
this wolf from the U.S. portion of its range. Its status in Mexico is
uncertain but there have been no documented sightings since 1980. It was
listed as "endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1976. There
are currently 149 Mexican gray wolves in captivity.
The recommendation to reintroduce Mexican wolves follows an extensive
period of review and public comment. A public scoping process began in
1991, followed by a draft environmental impact statement issued in June
1995. Seventeen public meetings were held and more than 18,000 comments on
the draft environmental impact statement were received. These comments were
analyzed, summarized, and are responded to in the final environmental
impact statement.
Copies of the final environmental impact statement, "Reintroduction of the
Mexican Wolf within its Historic Range in the Southwestern United States,"
may be obtained from Regional Director, Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 1306, Albuquerque, New Mexico
87103-1306, Tel: 505-248-6920.