Recommended Talking Points for Draft California Wolf Conservation Plan via California Wolf Center

Key Points: 1. Thanking the California Department of Fish and Wildlife We appreciate the Department's hard work and approach to the process to create a Wolf Conservation Plan for the state, including the opportunity for varied interests to provide input through a transparent process. We understand that it is a delicate process to create a plan that will best conserve wolves, while considering the interest of those sharing the landscape with this protected species. 2. Coexistence between wolves and the ranching community Promoting coexistence between livestock producers and wolves is of critical importance for successful wolf recovery in California and we are especially grateful that that the Plan has a strong emphasis on the use of proactive measures for protecting livestock and wolves. We ask that the Department prioritize the following in order to ensure peaceful wolf recovery: Secure funding specifically to create and implement a program that will provide information and on-going support on the use of proactive tools and strategies available for reducing conflicts between livestock and wolves Expedite establishing Depredation Prevention Agreements with interested and willing livestock producers  Set up a fund to provide compensation for livestock depredations; this will go a long way to promoting goodwill among the livestock community critical to ensuring long-term wolf recovery  3. Management Phases and wolf population numbers The number of wolves required to transition from Phase I and Phase II are unacceptably low. In addition, we have the following concerns regarding the numbers proposed: They are not scientifically-based They have not been adequately justified by CDFW They don't allow a long enough transition period between the phases to ensure breeding pair numbers won't immediately decline The shift from Phase II to Phase III should be left open until we know more about how wolves do in California as they populate the California landscape.  Please give wolves the best chance in California. We ask that you allow sufficient time for non-lethal coexistence strategies to take hold in our state and not rush the management phases. Secondary Points: 1. Need for scientific studies There are needed scientific studies in California that are critical to responsibly conserving and managing wolves moving forward, including: population trend range and distribution abundance, and life history of a species factors affecting the ability of the population to survive and reproduce nonlethal strategies use and effectiveness 2. Missing pieces of the Plan While the Draft Plan has a wide variety of critical provisions that will guide the state's conservation and management of wolves into the future, it is also missing some key information, including:  Depredation Investigations Protocols List of proactive, nonlethal tools to reduce conflicts between livestock and wolves Both Wolf-Livestock and Wolf-Ungulate Conflict Management Strategies, as referenced in Phase 2. We request the opportunity to review those as well The Livestock Depredation Protocol that is available on the Department's wolf web page; this should also be contained within the Plan with the understanding that it may evolve over time as we learn more about how best to address wolf-livestock conflicts in California. List of "Priority Counties" for depredation compensation. We suggest Siskiyou, Modoc, Shasta and Lassen Counties

SSubmit your public comments to the California Department of Fish & Wildlife before February 15th. We hope to see you at the public discussion in either Long Beach or Sacramento!  

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