Environmental organizations are fighting efforts to take the gray
wolf off the federal endangered species list, thinking it could some day
return to the Adirondacks.
Though perhaps it already has.
In December 2001, a hunter in the northern Saratoga County town of
Day killed what he thought was a coyote but was later determined to be a
wolf — the first confirmed wolf killing in the Adirondacks in more than
100 years.
A decade later, a New York State Museum study proved through bone
analysis of its diet that the wolf was wild, not a former pet or captive
turned loose or escaped. Most likely, the young male had crossed the
St. Lawrence River from Ontario.
Regardless of where that one came from, the Adirondack Park’s rural
communities are full of folks who believe wolves live out in the deep
woods. “There’s certainly anecdotal evidence of wolves being seen in the
Adirondacks,” said Dan Plumley of Adirondack Wild, who has photographed
possible wolf tracks on his property in Keene.
A matter of time?
The state Department of Environmental Conservation, however, says
neither wolves nor cougars — another species people claim to see —
currently live in the mountains. But with wolf populations recovering in the western United States and
Canada, the chances that intrepid individuals will strike out for new
territory and end up in Adirondack forests are increasing, advocates
say.
That’s why regional environmental groups are lobbying against a
current U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to take the gray wolf
off the endangered species list. “The proposed delisting would virtually prevent gray wolves from
naturally finding their way back to the Adirondack Park, a place they
once roamed,” said William C. Janeway, executive director of The
Adirondack Council.
The Fish and Wildlife Service in June proposed lifting the canine
predator’s endangered status nationally, based on species recoveries in
the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes states. The move would
shift responsibility for managing local populations to the states. “From the moment a species requires the protection of the Endangered
Species Act, our goal is to work with our partners to address the
threats it faces and ensure its recovery,” FWS Director Dan Ashe said in
announcing the proposal. “An exhaustive review of the latest scientific
and taxonomic information shows that we have accomplished that goal
with the gray wolf.”
Wolves were nearly extinct in the continental U.S. only 40 years ago
because of hunting, loss of forest habitat and a decline in prey species
such as caribou, moose and elk.
Challenging numbers
Today, there are at least 6,100 gray wolves in the contiguous United
States, with an estimate of 1,674 in the Northern Rocky Mountains and
4,432 in the Western Great Lakes, according to the FWS.
This winter, however, a peer scientific review of the proposed delisting faulted the science used.
“Information contrary to the proposed delisting is discounted whereas
that which supports the rule . . . are accepted uncritically,”
concluded the review organized by the National Center for Ecological
Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The proposed federal rule would lift federal protections across the
country. That would allow “taking” of the species and drop existing
requirements to protect their critical habitat.
Among the contentions of the Fish and Wildlife Service is that the
wolves that once roamed the Adirondacks were the “Eastern wolf,” an
extinct species that is different from the gray wolf. The peer review
panel, however, maintains there is no scientifically justified
difference between the Eastern and gray wolves, and that efforts to
restore gray wolves to the East should continue. The criticisms led to the decision in February to reopen the
delisting’s public-comment period. The comment period ended Thursday.
The Northeast Wolf Coalition, whose members include several
Adirondack groups, was among those submitting comments, calling not for
delisting but for expanded recovery efforts. “We urge FWS to develop a ‘Northeastern Wolf Recovery Plan’ that
includes continued legal protection in order to enhance natural
recolonization of wolves to the Northeast,” the coalition wrote on March
20.
Some congressmen, including Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, have also been critical of delisting the species. “It would stifle gray wolf recovery at a time when conservation gains
are only nascent in the Pacific Northwest and recovery has yet to begin
in California, Colorado, Utah and the Northeast, where scientists have
identified a significant amount of suitable habitat that would support
wolf populations,” Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said in a letter signed
by Tonko and 72 other members of Congress.
Emotional debate
The Fish and Wildlife Service said a final decision on the gray wolf’s status will be made by the end of 2014. The proposal is reopening an emotional debate that has occurred for
decades about whether to try to restore the native wolf, the last of
which was killed by a trapper in Hamilton County in 1893.
“I’ve read where parts of the Adirondacks are among the most sparsely
populated in the United States, which is ideal for wolves,” said Steve
Hall, co-owner of the Adirondack Wildlife Refuse and Rehabilitation
Center in Wilmington, which keeps two wolves for education purposes.
What isn’t ideal, Hall said, is that deer density in the Adirondacks
is low, making it more likely human pets would be at risk. But wolf
attacks on humans, he said, are almost unheard of. “We live in a country where people love wolves or hate wolves, without knowing anything about them,” Hall said.
Advocates believe wolves are needed as a top predator in a natural
ecosystem that includes large prey species such as beaver, deer and now
moose. Opponents point out that the coyote, unknown in the Adirondacks
before the 1950s, performs the top predator role in today’s forests.
Studies have found wolf DNA in Eastern coyotes, apparently from past
interbreeding.
Adult Eastern coyotes generally weigh only 35 to 40 pounds, half the
size of a full-grown wolf. Coyotes can legally be hunted in New York. The conservation group Defenders of Wildlife tried to build public
support for managed restoration of wolves during the 1990s, but its own
study ultimately concluded that relocating wolves from elsewhere was
likely to fail.
Now the question is whether wolves might return naturally, through migrations from areas that have healthy populations. There’s a wolf pack in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario that could be a source for Adirondack wolves. “The pack’s growing and dispersing, and it’s only 400 miles away,
well within travel range of an individual wolf,” said Adironack Wild’s
Plumley. While the wolf shot in Day is the only confirmed instance in the
Adirondacks, lone wolves have also been killed by hunters in the past
decade in Vermont and Maine.
Defenders of Wildlife, which is based in Washington, D.C., maintains
that wolves could successfully return on their own to the Northeast. Millions of acres in northern Maine and nearly the entire
6-million-acre Adirondack Park offer suitable habitat, the organization
believes. It said there are woods in between to allow “wildlife
corridor” migration.
source 
Tibetan wolves
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47,500 Defenders Members Send Comments to The Fish and Wildlife Service Opposing Gray wolf Delisting Proposal: Last month, you heard
that a panel of independent expert scientists unanimously concluded
that The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) used bad science to justify
their gray wolf delisting proposal. In light of peer review findings,
the Service reopened the comment period and 47,501 Defenders members
submitted comments strongly opposing this misguided rule. (These
comments are submitted in addition to the approximately 1 million comments that were submitted by the environmental coalition in December, when the official comment period closed.)
Saturday Marks the 16th Anniversary of Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery:
On March 29, 1998, the Service released 11 captive Mexican gray wolves
into Arizona in an effort to reestablish the population of imperiled
wolves into the American southwest. Today, there are only about75 wolves
in the wild and another 300 in captivity, making Mexican gray wolves
the world’s most endangered species of wolves. Unfortunately, 16 years
after recovery first began, the Service has suspended recovery planning
for Mexican gray wolves. This is unacceptable and Defenders believes
that unless the Service takes immediate action, this magnificent animal
will cease to exist in the wild. A recent study has emphasized the fact
that this species needs more wolves in more populations with more room
to roam. You can help us by telling the Service
that Mexican gray wolves have no time to waste, and that the Service
cannot give up on Mexican wolf recovery before the job is done! On this
anniversary, we are holding the Service’s feet to the fire!
