For
GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 1. Excerpt: Gray wolves no longer face
the threat of extinction, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. Calling the recovery “one of the most remarkable success
stories in the history of conservation," FWS Director Dan Ashe announced
today the agency is proposing to remove all of the nation's wolves from
the endangered species list, turning management over to states. Federal
protection will remain for the Mexican wolf. ...in most states they'll
still be under state-level endangered species protection. “No one
suggests that gray wolves don’t require management,” Ashe said in a
teleconference on Friday. “The issue is whether gray wolves still
require federal protection under the endangered species act, and we
believe quite clearly they do not." Friday’s de-listing proposal is
already being questioned by some environmentalists who view the move as
premature. “Wolves currently inhabit only a fraction of their former
range, and this proposal will cut off wolf recovery from vast areas of
suitable habitat out west where the species can still thrive,” Jamie
Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said in a press
release. But Ashe firmly told reporters at the teleconference that for
wolves to be considered recovered, they do not need to occupy most or
all of their historic range. He also said he expected to see wolves
continue to expand into northern California, Utah, Nevada and Colorado
under state management. Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered
species director, Noah Greenwald, worried states would kill too many
wolves under their management plans. ...Officials need to keep the total
number of wolves around 140, with at least 10 breeding pairs, to avoid a
re-listing.... http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/gray-wolves-to-be-removed-from-endangered-species-list. Emily Guerin, High Country News. |
Updates >