The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it may release Mexican
gray wolves in New Mexico in an effort to recover the fragile species,
despite the state having refused the federal government a permit to do
so. (Susan Montoya Bryan/The Associated Press file)
Ted
Turner’s Ladder Ranch will ask the state Game Commission on Thursday to
overturn the department director’s denial of its permit to host
endangered Mexican wolves in southwest New Mexico as part of the federal
government’s recovery program.
The commission rejected the Ladder Ranch’s request in May to
renew a permit that had been in place for 17 years to hold Mexican
wolves in captivity – an attempt, wolf advocates say, to throw a wrench
in the reintroduction program.
The commission’s denial of the Ladder Ranch permit was the
first of several contentious decisions this year that have pitted the
state against the federal government’s plans to reintroduce the Mexican
wolf into the wild.
In September, the commission denied the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service’s request for permits to release Mexican wolves and
pups in New Mexico, citing concerns about the government’s long-term
plans for the program, including the lack of a target number for the
wild population.
Weeks later, the service said it would use its federal
authority under the Endangered Species Act to go forward with releases
despite state opposition.
“I’m hoping that we can find a way to go forward together,”
said Mike Phillips, director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund,
which runs the Ladder Ranch. “Everybody has to be mindful that the
Ladder Ranch facility is just wolves in captivity.”
The Ladder Ranch, outside the Gila National Forest, acts as a
way station for wolves bred in captivity before they are released by
Fish and Wildlife in New Mexico or Arizona.
Fish and Wildlife has relocated wild wolves to New Mexico at
times since the reintroduction program began in 1998, but the agency
has yet to introduce “new” wolves into New Mexico – those bred in
captivity – under the authority of a new management rule that went into
effect earlier this year.
The new rule expanded the area where the agency can release
wolves to include the Gila National Forest; it also expanded the area
where the wolves are permitted to roam, meaning it now stretches from
Interstate 40 to the U.S.-Mexico border. Previously, “new” wolf releases
took place in Arizona.
Ranchers in New Mexico have long opposed reintroduction of wolves, which have been known to prey on cattle and domestic animals.
The Ladder Ranch is like “a halfway house for wolves that
are coming out of captive breeding facilities,” said Kevin Bixby,
executive director of the Southwest Environmental Center. “It plays an
important role in the reintroduction program going forward.”
“We go out of our way to minimize human contact and increase
the odds (the wolves) are well suited to survive in the wild without
conflicts,” Phillips said.
Action plan
Also on the agenda Thursday: The Game and Fish Department
will present its final “wildlife action plan” for approval by the
commission. That plan, required by the federal government and updated
every five years, ranks the Mexican wolf as a “tier 1” species requiring
the “most urgent” conservation measures.
Additionally, the commission is slated to discuss in closed
executive session whether to join a lawsuit by the state of Arizona
against Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell over Fish and
Wildlife’s failure to develop a long-term recovery plan for the Mexican
wolf – one of the reasons the commission has cited for its opposition to
the reintroduction program.
The current 1982 recovery plan is widely viewed by both wolf
advocates and opponents of the reintroduction program as outdated and
insufficient to guide management of the wolf population. Fish and
Wildlife says it is reconvening a team and a new recovery plan is
expected in 2017.
At last count, there were 110 Mexican wolves in the wild
across New Mexico and Arizona, according to Fish and Wildlife. The
wolves in the wild, whose genetics derive from just seven surviving
animals, suffer from inbreeding and advocates say release of new wolves
is critical to inject diversity into the gene pool.
Socorro County board bans releases
SOCORRO — The Socorro County Board of Commissioners
unanimously approved its wolf-human interaction ordinance — prohibiting
release of Mexican wolves in the county — before an emotional, overflow
crowd at its meeting last week.
Commissioners said they considered the financial loss to
ranchers from potential attacks on livestock and protecting human
safety. One official described the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
effort to carry out the Endangered Species Act as “a broken system.”
Area residents said they thought the passing of the
ordinance was “going to be a legal mess” that would cost taxpayers and
worries expressed were overstated.
— El Defensor Chieftain
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