Conservationist
backtracks on wolf remarks
By SHERRY DEVLIN of the Missoulian
Lambasted by his fellow conservationists for
remarks he made at a law conference in Missoula last week, National
Wildlife Federation attorney Tom France issued a written statement
Monday chiding the federal government for failing to recover the gray
wolf "on suitable habitat across a significant portion of its
historic range."
"Removing Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in
the West is clearly premature," France said in a statement issued
by the Wildlife Federation's Washington, D.C., office.
France was on vacation and could not be reached to elaborate on the
statement.
However, the group's national
communications director said France's comments at last week's Public
Land and Resources Law Conference in Missoula caused "some
difficulties" and were contrary to the federation's national wolf
policy.
During a panel discussion Thursday afternoon, France said he was
dismayed when a coalition of 17 environmental groups filed suit hoping
to stop the removal of wolves from federal protection.
The return of wolves to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming is a success story
unequaled in the act's 30-year history, France said, yet
conservationists seem intent on "snatching defeat from the jaws
of victory."
"I am disappointed that these groups cannot find another, better
way to move wolf recovery forward," he said.
By insisting that the federal government return wolves not only to
Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, but also to Colorado, Oregon, Utah and
other Western states, the environmentalists' lawsuit threatens to
undermine public support for endangered species protection, France
said.
The remarks apparently ignited a firestorm, not only within the
environmental community, but also within the National Wildlife
Federation.
NWF communications director Ben McNitt said the group felt "it
was important that our national policy be clearly articulated."
France's comments at the conference, carried in a Missoulian story
Friday and then in a subsequent Associated Press story, "created
some confusion and controversy," McNitt said.
McNitt could not say why France made the comments. "I wasn't
there," he said.
But the statement released Monday, he emphasized, is the Wildlife
Federation's official policy.
As released, France's statement said:
"The National Wildlife Federation and other conservation
organizations are in agreement that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
has failed in its mandate under the Endangered Species Act to recover
the gray wolf on suitable habitat across a significant portion of its
historic range."
Last month, the statement said, the Wildlife Federation filed a 60-day
notice of intent to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service over its
national wolf rule - which would not reintroduce wolves to a number of
states historically inhabited by the species.
The National Wildlife Federation wants the federal government to
recover wolves on suitable habitat in places like Maine and New
Hampshire, according to France's statement.
He continued: "The National Wildlife Federation is focusing its
legal resources on a campaign to restore the gray wolf to its rightful
place in the northeastern United States and supports those groups
working to restore the gray wolf to other portions of its historic
range."
Bill Snape, chief counsel for Defenders of Wildlife, said he did
discuss France's remarks with the Wildlife Federation's senior
attorney in Washington, D.C.
Snape is lead counsel on the environmentalists' lawsuit against the
Fish and Wildlife Service, and was at Thursday's conference in
Missoula.
"I expressed my less-than-happy views in private, and they will
remain private," Snape said. "But I am pleased that they
issued the statement clarifying Tom's remarks."
Reporter Sherry Devlin can be reached at 523-5268 or at sdevlin@missoulian.com
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