Northern Rockies Wolves: once again under the gun

Wolves are under the gun again, literally.

Until recently, Northern Rockies gray wolves had been on the Endangered Species List and therefore protected from extermination. While their numbers had been recovering, many conservation organizations felt the the government's decision to remove the wolf from the endangered species list was premature. It was questionable as to whether there are sufficient number of breeding pairs. But, with the increasing numbers there is the inevitable occasional loss of livestock, and so the future fate of the wolf was put into question once again as pressure mounted to find a way to placate ranchers with some sort of "acceptable" sustainable population figure.

Unfortunately, it was decided that the magic number was to be less than the current population. In August, it was reported that Idaho was issuing over 10,000 hunting licenses for the taking of 220 wolves - out of a population reported to be somewhere between 846 and 1,000. Conservation organizations rallied their legal forces to reinstate the wolves' former status and a final decision is in the hands of a judge as to an injunction against the Idaho hunt.

But in the meantime, the hunt has begun and the first kills have been reported.

And the issue is spilling over into other states. Montana is preparing to open up wolf hunting on September 15th. And there has been concern emanating from Oregon where a very small number of wolves exists, a fledgling splinter group from the larger Northern Rockies population. Conservationists are concerned that, with the reduction of wolves through open hunting, the populations ranging across all these states will be threatened due to a lack of mating prospects and lost continuum of a healthy genetic pool.

Interestingly, this is the same issue expressed regarding the loss of oceanic predators like great whites - that the loss of one population can impact another population many miles away, perhaps a population even in so-called "protected" waters, due to a loss of the gene pool mix within these migratory animals.

According to Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative of the Defenders of Wildlife, "Idaho hosts the core of the Northern Rockies wolf population, with approximately 1,000 wolves. By wiping out 220 wolves, the state will cripple the regional wolf population by isolating wolves into disconnected subgroups incapable of genetic or ecological sustainability."

"It's only a matter of time," warned Stone, "before Idaho's state legislature enforces their demand that all wolves be removed 'by whatever means necessary,' which is still the state's official policy on wolves."

Read story in Environmental News Service.

Central for Biological Diversity: legal eagles getting the job done

So recently, I put up two postings (Fri. 2/20 & Sat. 2/21) on different conservation organizations, commenting on the different strategies or tactics taken by groups who feel their efforts would be best served by either educating the next generation or partaking in eco-terrorist activities. In the end, nature is best served when there are concrete results.

One organization that I have mentioned in the past, is gaining more and more influence and attention by focusing on the strategy of legal engagement, through legal petition or law suit. The Center for Biological Diversity has been affecting change through legal means and their results to date have been impressive. Cases in point, from their latest e-newsletter:

For the threatened Canadian Lynx, its federally protected habitat in the U.S. was increased from 1,841 to 39,000 square miles. CBD, along with Defenders of Wildlife, filed suit to protect the lynx under the Endangered Species Act (it's limited protection was initiated by a now disgraced former official influenced by commercial timber interests).

CBD and other organizations filed numerous suits regarding the 11th hour moves by the previous administration to gut the Endangered Species Act. A bill has now been introduced in Congress that will allow the Obama administration to more quickly rescind those moves - in particular those that denied the use of global warming as a cause for listing a species, like the polar bear, as endangered.

Even the little guys get some attention: the Northern Rockies Fisher, a rare relative of the weasel whose numbers have dwindled due to logging and trapping is receiving CBD support with a scientific petition filed to gain protection under the Endangered Species Act.

CBD, along with over 20 other groups, submitted a petition with over 19,000 signatures in support of measures to protect Arizona's Verde River from proposed pumping for new large development projects. Petition requests the consultation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine and counter potential negative ecological effects.

The Center for Biological Diversity is one of a growing number of organizations that are taking a decidedly proactive position and do so not by fighting the legal system but by getting it to work for them. The challenges can be clearly identified, the actions can demonstrable, and the results can be clearly measured. Now that's progress.

Go get 'em, CBD!