Amaroq Weiss
A press release today from Cascadia Wildlands and Center for Biological Diversity reports that 52 members of Congress have endorsed a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that the Federal government continue to protect those wolves still under the umbrella of the Endangered Species Act.
Amaroq Weiss, West Coast Wolf Organizer for Center for Biological Diversity states, “It is our hope that the support shown for wolves by these 52 Representatives will encourage more Congressionals to come forward and stand up for science-based wolf recovery and the necessary protections to achieve that goal — and for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and this Administration to follow through to ensure wolves are restored to significant portions of their former range.”
Weiss, previously with the California Wolf Center, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Mexican Wolf Conservation Fund, has served as a vocal wolf advocate for years. She sounds hopeful in this statement about today’s news:
“With wolf recovery supporters nationwide – and worldwide – stunned at how wolf management by states, upon federal delisting, has turned into what by all appearances is a contest to reduce wolf numbers to the bare minimum to appease wolf recovery opponents, this letter to the USFWS from 52 Congressional Representatives demonstrates that there is a substantial body of U.S. lawmakers willing to go to bat for wolves, for the mandates of the Endangered Species Act to be met, and for wolf recovery decisions to be based on science rather than politics.”
Photo generously shared by Living with Wolves http://www.livingwithwolves.org/
With the number of wolves in Washington and Oregon increasing, it is only a matter of time before plans for “harvesting” them will be underway. With the support of Congress and the hard work of conservation-minded nonprofits, as well as ourselves, a better future can be envisioned for wolves in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.
This movement greatly impacts OR 7. Although currently the only known wild wolf in California, we can only hope that someday, he will be joined by others.
Details of the letter sent to the US Fish and Wildlife Service follows:
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For Immediate Release, March 5, 2013
52 Members of Congress Urge Continued Federal Protections for Wolves in Lower 48 States Bipartisan Group Asks U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Retain Protections for Wolves in PORTLAND, Ore.— In an effort championed by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), 52 House members sent a letter today to the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging an about-face on the agency’s anticipated proposal to remove federal protections for wolves across most of the lower 48 United States. “We are grateful that these 52 representatives are standing strong for continued federal protections for wolves,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “With wolves only just beginning to recover in the Pacific Northwest, California, southern Rocky Mountains and Northeast, now’s not the time for the Fish and Wildlife Service to turn its back on wolf recovery.” An estimated 2 million wolves once roamed freely across North America, including most of the United States. But bounties, a federal extermination program and human settlement drove the species to near extinction in most of the lower 48. While protected by the Endangered Species Act, wolf populations in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Western Great Lakes states increased; but these regions amount to a mere 5 percent of the wolf’s original range, and in other regions wolves are only just beginning to return. “The job of wolf recovery is far from over and the members of Congress who have written to the Service are asking that science, not politics, guide federal wolf management,” said Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands. “Maintaining federal protections is critical in allowing wolves to assume their valuable ecological role across the American landscape.” Since the original wolf recovery plans were written in the 1980s, scientists have learned much more about wolves’ behavior, ecology and needs. Research has shown that returning wolves to ecosystems sets off a chain of events that benefits many species, including songbirds and beavers that gain from a return of streamside vegetation, which thrives in the absence of browsing elk that must move more often to avoid wolves. And pronghorn and foxes are aided by wolves’ control of coyote populations. Protecting ecosystems upon which species depend is a specific goal of the Endangered Species Act — all the more reason for expanded, rather than diminished, wolf recovery efforts. Bowing to political pressure from wolf opponents, the Service has no plans for wolf recovery in areas beyond those regions it has deemed recovered (the northern Rockies and western Great Lakes). In states where federal delisting has occurred, there are insufficient protections from local pressures to hunt or “control” wolves back to the brink of extinction. In the 18 months since federal delisting began in 2011, more than 1,700 of the 5,000-6,000 recovered wolves in the lower 48 have been killed. Conservation organizations are hopeful that Interior Secretary nominee Sally Jewell will be a stronger advocate for wolves than outgoing Secretary Ken Salazar, who never called for comprehensive gray wolf recovery across the country. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Cascadia Wildlands is a Eugene, Oregon-based nonprofit conservation organization that educates, agitates and inspires a movement to protect and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems. #
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This is so beyond fabulous, I love it!! Thank you, CBD and Cascadia Wildlands!! Of course this is no guarantee that something positive will happen for the wolves, but the door is opening a little bit more now. Thanks to you, too, Beckie!
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Hey Kristi, thanks for the comment! Let’s keep pushing that door open even wider so things can be better for wolves while we’re still around to see the changes!
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Wonderful news. A very well-written article. Thank you for posting. Will share a link to your post on our facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/TheAnimalSpirits
Many Blessings!
~Gerean Pflug for The Animal Spirits
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Thank you for your kind words. I’ve checked out your FB page and blog and shared it as well. Let’s stay connected, seems we are on a similar path in our efforts to be a voice for animals.
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Excellent news. Thank you Becky for keeping us updated on the political moves, while keeping us heart-filled on the wolves. Big hugs, Jaelle
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Jaelle I’m so glad to see your comment! It is nice to have some good news to share sometimes, that doesn’t happen often enough in the wolf world.
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Were these all Representatives or were Senators signatories too? Can you print the honor roll?
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Hello Marian, If you go the press release I copied and pasted into my blog post you’ll see a link to the actual letter in the first paragraph. This has the signature of all 52 who signed. Thanks for the comment.
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We see that they are all listed as Members of the House of Representatives.
This is around 1/8 of the House membership. This many committed to the letter on such a politicized subject is a hearteningly large proportion. While we see many legislators, especially Republican, change committed positions, any congressmembers who have ever spoken out for wolves must be held to their word. This would be done by watching votes on related items in bills, and other issues, and exposing inconsistencies publicly.
Thank you for posting what relevant information you can find, with links, as these can be linked as talking points in articles encouraging citizens to comment at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FWS-HQ-ES-2013-0073
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Wolves are like handicapped people. They have no laws protecting them. Wolf hunters should have laws that inforce them to educate themselves on American History of Wolves before their allowed to take control of our wildlife. There needs to be a limited number of wolves a hunter can murder. Ranchers need to protect their own land like we do in the city.
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Gee, after they voted for that budget rider that has gotten so many killed.
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I have been thinking the exact same thing Justin. Perhaps now they see the error of their ways with the relentless slaughter that has ensued because of their interference. At least its a start, albeit, it seems like a long, arduous, painful journey back to protections. And we have already lost too many wolves that are forever gone.
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I’m so happy to hear about this. I live in Wisconsin and they have Wolf Hunts here. They use guns of course also Traps which I hate and think are very cruel. But now there going to use Packs of dogs six in each pack. We tried voicing are opions because, they had a vote in Febuary in Dane countie if they were going to train the dogs or not. They already decieded to use them so we didn’t get anywhere. Also the Hunters were told if there dogs get injured or killed they’ll pay for the dogs. I pray that this is stopped. Thank You!
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I’m a Rebuplican and I support this and I was against the hunting at the start, I have first hand experience with wolves and I have been around them to know they are worth protecting, I want to retire in a place where they still run free and be with them and we need to stop the hunts..
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sorry, miss spelled , just woke up
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Wonderful news!!! And thank you Beckie for helping to spread awareness. It’s about time the Gray Wolf had a friend in Washington. I hope all those, and more, persist. Wolves never should have been de-listed by Congress. I called Congressman DeFazio’s office in both Washington and Oregon a few days ago to thank him for his humanity and all he hard work he has initiated to bring justice to wolves. We must not relent until protections are restored! HOWLS!!!
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