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The federal agency last week downgraded the gray
wolf from an endangered species to a threatened species in the Eastern
and Western segments of the country. The wolf is still considered
endangered in the Southwest.
The endangered label means the species is on the brink of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Threatened means the species may become endangered in the near future. Lisa Osborn, a biologist for Washington, D.C.-based Defenders of Wildlife, says the change in status is ridiculous because there are no wolves in the Northeast. A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service says it has met the goals of its gray wolf recovery plan, raising the population from a few hundred wolves in 1974 to 3,100 now. Most of the recovery has been in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and the northern Rocky Mountain states. "You can argue those goals are overly modest. But the fact is, we've met those goals," said Michael Amaral at the agency's New England office in Concord. "The recovery plan is like a contract. If you've met the terms of the contract, you should live up to it." The environmental groups say the wolves have a good chance of returning naturally to the Northeast from Canada - but only if they are protected. Last week the groups petitioned the Interior Department to create a new wolf recovery region for Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont and to designate the gray wolf as endangered. "We're not asking they restore wolves right away. We just want them to take a look at the region seriously, do a feasibility study and look at the different factors to see if it's feasible to get wolves back in there," Osborn said. The gray wolf could be delisted or removed from federal protection in a year. When that happens, protecting and recovering the species will shift to individual states. "When we remove the wolf from the Endangered Species Act, it becomes just another wild animal states will have to take responsibility for," Amaral said. "If the states support wolf recovery, it could still happen." There is no wolf recovery plan in New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Legislature has passed a law prohibiting wolves being reintroduced intentionally in the state, as they were in Yellowstone National Park. "We're just keeping our finger on the pulse right now," said Will Staats, a wildlife biologist at the Fish and Game office in Lancaster. If this species appears on the landscape, we'll have to address how we want to manage them," he said. Gray wolves were nearly wiped out by the early 1900s as their habitat disappeared to development and many animals were bountied for killing sheep and cattle. "Legend has it Mount Monadnock was burned off to get rid of the last wolves in the Monadnock area," said John Kanter, a Fish and Game biologist. As wolves left, coyotes entered into the wolves' former Northeast territory. If wolves come down from Canada as some biologists predict, they likely will force out the smaller species, or breed with them. "If one or two wolves gets into this mix of coyotes, they'll end up mating with coyotes. So you could have the cycle of never getting back to 100 percent wolfdom," Kanter said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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