#Wolf Weekly Wrap-Up by @Defenders of Wildlife

29 January 2016

Posted by: Melanie Gade, Haley McKey and Catalina Tresky |

Idaho’s Questionable Wolf Collaring in the Frank Church

It’s a constant battle to protect wolves in Idaho’s Frank Church Wilderness, the nation’s largest forested wilderness area in the Lower 48. Since 2011 when wolves were delisted in Idaho by Congress, hunters, trappers and government officials have killed more than 1000 in the state. The state’s management plan calls for an intensive program of wolf killing in the Middle Fork Zone, the core of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area, potentially using paid hunters and trappers over successive years to kill up to 60 percent of the wolves living there. There are no livestock there, and no excuses that can justify this level of persecution. We’ve been to court several times to protect wolves in this core wilderness area. Now, we’ve learned that Idaho’s wildlife managers trapped and collared four wolves “by mistake” in an effort to collar elk in the region. Our fear is that Idaho’s anti-wolf managers will use this GPS information to track and kill wolves in the Frank. Defenders is the only national organization with boots on the ground, organizing and building public support for wolves in Idaho and we won’t stop fighting for them. We will continue to raise awareness about Idaho’s mismanagement of wolves, mobilizing activists to speak out against the exclusive use of lethal control to manage wolves in Idaho, and educating Idaho’s state legislators about the cost-effectiveness of nonlethal wolf management.

New National Wildlife Refuge Proposed

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the creation of a new wildlife refuge—Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge—across six Northeastern states: Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The new refuge would protect the imperiled New England cottontail rabbit and as many as 65 other species that depend on rare thick, tangled brushy habitat (called “thickets”) across the Northeast. We are encouraged to see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continuing to protect our nation’s wildlife and their habitats, despite the precarious and frustrating situation at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. We look forward to the establishment of Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge as the next addition to the most expansive public lands system in the world dedicated to conserving fish and wildlife.

Melanie Gade, Communications Specialist

Melanie handles press coverage for wildlife in the Pacific Northwest and Rockies and Plains, as well as Defenders' national work on the Endangered Species Act.

Haley McKey, Communications Associate

Haley's beat areas include Defenders’ Florida and Alaska offices, climate change, right whales, sea turtles and government appropriations.

Catalina Tresky, Communications Associate

Catalina focuses on issues tied to federal/public lands, wildlife refuges and renewable energy siting, as well as those related to a myriad species throughout California, Oregon and the Southwest.

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