By Doug Tompkins and Peter Metcalf
Wildlands need their full complement of
species to maintain their ecological integrity. Thus it has been
heartening to see the gray wolf repopulate the rugged northern Rockies
and expansive western Great Lakes in recent years.
But postage-stamp populations of wolves on the
American landscape is not comprehensive recovery, and this underscores
as misguided and premature the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal
to strip critical protections for wolves in nearly all of the lower 48
states.
Sally Jewell, our new Interior Secretary, will
soon be making the decision whether or not to remove safeguards for
wolves across the country. Alarmingly, the current proposal would strip
protections for wolves in places they have yet to return, like Utah’s
Wasatch Range and wildlands across other iconic American landscapes that
continue to feel the absence of the gray wolf.
It is clear the gray wolf recovery mission is
not accomplished. Scientists strongly agree that significant habitat
continues to exist for the wolf. Recently, 16 of our nation’s prominent
wolf and ecological scientists sent a letter to Jewell calling on her to
maintain protections for wolves, and the secretary should heed their
advice.
Gray wolves need continued protections because
they are necessary for ecosystem balance and because they are an
economic driver for communities around them.
In Yellowstone National Park, where wolves have
returned, landscape health is being restored. Scientists have
documented that wolves keep elk herds alert and may prevent overgrazing
of sensitive streamside areas. With the presence of the wolf, there has
been a documented positive effect upon many other species, from
songbirds to fish to beavers.
Research shows that wolves are not just good
for ecosystem health, but also for the economy. The return of wolves to
Yellowstone brings an estimated $35 million in annual tourist revenue to
surrounding communities. Seeing wolves often entails filling up the gas
tank, grabbing breakfast at the diner, booking a room, and hiring a
guide. Wolves are big business in this part of the country.
But there is another reason to restore wolves.
Wolf restoration epitomizes our country’s true commitment to restoring
the nation’s wildlife patrimony. And we have a responsibility to our
children and grandchildren to be good stewards of the wild American
landscapes from which we so effectively exterminated wolves.
But in order to do so, they need maintained
federal protections.State management isn’t promising. Utah’s Legislature
has already tried to make it a "wolf-free" state if federal protections
are stripped.
In Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, nearly 1,200
wolves have been shot or trapped since the federal government in 2011
removed protections for the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population
and handed management over to states.
Passing the recovery buck off to states is a
risky proposition for comprehensive wolf recovery and does not follow in
the footsteps of past successful efforts to keep species from blinking
off into oblivion. The bald eagle is a great example, and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service shouldn’t take a different tack with wolves.
Gray wolves have begun their noble recovery in
places like the northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, and all
predictions suggest that, with enough time and human tolerance, they
will migrate into neighboring wildlands to reclaim their rightful place
on the landscape.
But they need their critical federal
protections maintained or they will likely be relegated to a handful of
biologically isolated pockets, setting a potentially destructive
precedent as to what defines species recovery in America’s great
outdoors.
Doug Tompkins is the founder of The North Face. Peter Metcalf is CEO and lead founder of Black Diamond Equipment.
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