WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Government Shirks Duty to Restore Wolves to the Southern Rocky Mountains

Courts May Decide Fate of Citizen Petition for Wolves
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

DENVER - This week, while President Elect Barack Obama was tapping Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), to lead the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency within the Interior Department charged with restoring imperiled species, formally rejected a citizen petition requesting the agency to prepare a recovery plan and to designate critical habitat for wolves in the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado and northern New Mexico.

“The government admits that wolves likely won’t reclaim Colorado on their own, yet they refuse to help wolves get here. The government is denying wolves the freedom to roam the Southern Rockies,” said Rob Edward, Carnivore Recovery Director for WildEarth Guardians. “We certainly hope that Secretary Salazar will stand up for wolves in his home state, where over two-thirds of the citizens want wolves restored.”

WildEarth Guardians’ petition, filed in September, urged FWS to develop a recovery plan focusing on the reintroduction of wolves to at least four core areas, identified by biologists as top habitat for wolves in the region (see Figure 5 in Appendix A of the petition). The petition also identified numerous threats to wolf habitat, including roads on public lands and increased development that would further fragment habitat. Based upon the scope of these threats, the petition called for the government to designate critical habitat for the species, which could protect unoccupied wolf range so that wolves could be successfully restored there.

Edward indicated that FWS’s rejection of the petition, unfortunately, makes litigation on behalf of wolves in the Southern Rockies more likely. “The agency’s position means that they we may have few options but through the courts,” said Edward.

When Congress enacted the ESA in 1973, it clearly stated that the intent of listing species under the law was to achieve “recovery” for the species, and that recovery entails the restoration of the species to “all or a significant portion” of the species’ historic range. Wolves currently inhabit less than five percent of their natural range in the lower forty-eight states. Edward argues that, “The law says much more needs to be done for wolves.”

The Southern Rocky Mountains represent a significant gap in the wolf recovery effort. Once restored to this region, wolves would again be present in a swath stretching along the spine of the continent, from the Arctic to Mexico. WildEarth Guardians believes that wolf recovery can be accomplished quickly in the Southern Rockies, given that the region supports the largest elk population and one of the largest deer herds in North America. The only step needed to help wolves gain a foothold is a restoration plan and a commitment to protect and restore important wolf habitat. WildEarth Guardians remains committed to provoke the implementation of that crucial next step, and we hope that Secretary Salazar will champion the return of the wild to his home state.

To download a PDF copy of the petition and the government’s response, click here.

To download a PDF copy of the government’s response, click here.