Wolf reintroduction to the Adirondacks
11/17/96
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New York mulls reintroducing wolves to the Adirondacks
November 17, 1996
ALBANY, New York (AP) -- Conservationists say reintroducing timber
wolves to the Adirondacks would restore the region's ecological
balance and boost tourism.
"Wolves are good business," said Michael Phillips, a National Parks
Service biologist involved with reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone
National Park, which has seen visitors flock since the program began.
Farmers in upstate New York, though, say coyotes are enough of a
problem already, preying on young calves and other livestock.
"The wolves would be more of a concern because they hunt in packs and
they would travel a larger area," said Lee Hutchins, who runs a dairy
farm on the northwest edge of the 5.4-million-acre Adirondack Park.
"We'd be pretty defenseless in controlling animal loss."
Hundreds of scientists, advocates and wolf enthusiasts are discussing
a proposal to reintroduce wolves to the Adirondacks this weekend at a
three-day conference organized by the Defenders of Wildlife's "Wolves
of America."
The state Department of Environmental Conservation hasn't taken a
position on the issue, preferring to wait for feasibility studies on
whether the idea makes ecological sense.
Roger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said the wolf
is the only thing lacking from the Adirondacks' circle of life. The
deer and beaver populations have risen dramatically, he said, because
the region has been without wolves since the last canis lupis in New
York was shot at the end of the 19th century.
"The Adirondacks is a very good place to relocate the Eastern timber
wolf," he said.
The big question, said Walter Medwid, a wolfadvocate from Minnesota,
is: "Does the public want to restore that missing piece of the
Adirondacks?"
Since 1987, Defenders of Wildlife has paid some $25,000 to Western
ranchers who lost 98 livestock to wolves. But pledges to reimburse
New York farmers and ranchers for livestock killed by wolves doesn't
convince Hutchins that reintroduction is a good idea.
"Basically, you'd wind up being a supplier of food for the
reintroduced wolf," Hutchins said.
But Phillips said farmers and ranchers would have little to fear from
Adirondack wolves.
"It's the atypical wolf that takes stock. Most wolves don't kill live
stock," he said.