Rocky Mountain Park Elk Plan Goes to Court

WildEarth Guardians pushes Park Service to bring wolves back

Today, WildEarth Guardians, with the assistance of student attorneys at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, filed a lawsuit in Denver federal court against Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service. The suit charges that the National Park Service failed to adequately consider the reintroduction of a self-regulating population of gray wolves to Rocky Mountain National Park as part of its plan to address ongoing elk problems. At issue is the government's dismissal of credible scientific evidence suggesting that the absence of gray wolves is the root of the park's aspen and willow decline.

"Without wolves to keep the elk population moving around, aspen and willow face extinction in the Park" said Rob Edward, the Director of Carnivore Recovery for WildEarth Guardians. "Sadly, the government has chosen bullets over wolves, and politics over science," said Edward.

In an attempt to rescue aspen and willow in Rocky Mountain National Park, the government plans to cull hundreds of elk each year, as part of an effort to stem the decline of trees that have withered under intense browsing from sedentary elk. WildEarth Guardians charges that the National Park Service flatly ignored scientific evidence generated from Yellowstone National Park and elsewhere, that linked the decline of aspen and willow in western ecosystems to the eradication of wolves from the West. That same scientific evidence shows that the restoration of wolves has yielded a swift, dramatic and sustained benefit to native plants.

Yellowstone's stewardship of wolves serves as a model for how ecological processes can be quickly rekindled--with dramatically positive results. Unfortunately, the National Park Service failed to heed the lessons of Yellowstone, leaving WildEarth Guardians no choice but to take the matter to court.

The lawsuit also charges that the Park Service has an obligation to further the conservation of endangered species under a little-used provision in the Endangered Species Act.

"The Park Service should accept that their elk problem stems directly from a lack of wolves in the region," said Edward. "It's time to restore the balance of nature in Rocky Mountain National Park."

During the development of the elk plan, WildEarth Guardians urged Rocky Mountain National Park to develop a cooperative plan with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to reintroduce wolves to the park and several other locations in western Colorado identified by scientists as prime reintroduction sites (A map of these potential reintroduction sites can be downloaded at the link provided at the end of this press release). Edward noted that such a cooperative reintroduction plan was developed for Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho, as part of a regional effort to restore gray wolves to the Northern Rocky Mountains.

The National Park Service has asserted that Rocky Mountain National Park is "surrounded by private land," and thus, is not suitable for wolf restoration. Yet, a map, available at the link provided at the end of this press release shows that of the lands within 15 miles of the park border, only 23 percent are privately held. WildEarth Guardians asserts that the Park Service has the legal authority to initiate a wolf reintroduction that includes cooperative management of wolves on lands adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park.

One of the primary mandates of the National Park Service is to manage lands under their control in a manner that ensures the protection and restoration of natural ecological process. The legal challenge by WildEarth Guardians underscores this mandate from Congress.

"Just as we must restore fire to balance and rejuvenate wild landscapes," said Edward, "so must we restore wolves to the American West."

As noted above, the relationship between wolves and their prey is fundamentally different than similar relationships between prey animals and other predators, such as bears and coyotes. For more information on the relationship between wolves and their ecosystems, visit: http://www.cof.orst.edu/aspen/

The complaint and other background materials including the aforementioned map are available for download as PDF files at the following web address: http://www.box.net/shared/1u2upw8cog

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For further information, contact Rob Edward, WildEarth Guardians' Carnivore Recovery Director, at 303.918.8073 or redward@wildearthguardians.org

As of January 28, 2008 Forest Guardians, Sinapu, and the Sagebrush Sea Campaign have joined forces to become WildEarth Guardians. With offices in Boulder, Denver, Phoenix, and Santa Fe, WildEarth Guardians protects and restores wildlife, wild places, and wild rivers in the American West.


 

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