Apache Tribe to release wolf pack
By Tom Jackson King, Managing Editor
The White Mountain Apache Tribe, which overlaps parts of Navajo, Apache
and Greenlee counties, will release its first Mexican gray wolf pack by
the end of June — and hopes to eventually release five more packs.
“The release is scheduled to take place by the end of June 2003,” said
Chadeen Palmer, public information officer for WMAT.
“An alpha pack and this year’s pups will be set free in the southeastern
region of the reservation,” Palmer said. “The hope is that the pups will
cause the pack to localize and set up a permanent territory. The release
site has been chosen to minimize conflict with human impact, livestock and
other tribal land use.”
Palmer said the tribe’s decision to release a wolf pack occurred after it
adopted a wolf management plan in 2000 and hired a tribal wolf biologist
in 2001.
The tribe’s goal is to return the wolf to its traditional range on the
reservation and to allow six packs to establish territories. The long-term
goals include educational and tourism oportunities through the WMAT
Wildlife and Outdoor Recreation Division program.
“Currently, the reservation is home to the Bonita Creek pack, one of the
few naturally occurring, wild-boned pair of wolves within the program,”
Palmer said.
When asked for further details, such as the number of pups to be released
with the alpha pair and how the tribe would control wolves wandering off
reservation onto nearby public or private land, she said, “I don’t have
any information except what’s in the release.”
Palmer referred the inquiry to three persons at the tribe’s wildlife
department, Tribal Wolf Biologist Krist Beazley, Tribal Sensitive Species
Coordinator Cynthia Dale and Tribal Chief Biologist Alex Publisi. None of
the three answered their phones when called by the Courier.
Vicki Fox, spokesperson for the Albuquerque office of U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, said she would inquire about the size of the pack to be
released, but noted it is up to the WMAT to comment on its own press
release.
For the last two years the USFWS has been funding the White Mountain
Apache Tribe to support a tribal wolf biologist and to support a wolf
planning program. Since the money USFWS gives WMAT has been hidden among
total USFWS spending statements, it is unclear how much federal tax
dollars have been spent to help the White Mountain Apaches conduct a wolf
reintroduction program. But it is clear that 100 percent of the tribe’s
wolf spending is supplied by federal sources.
The USFWS has similar arrangements with the WMAT and other tribes to
support other programs that meet federal objects, such as endangered
species compliance, fish stocking and predator control/research.
The next meeting of the Mexican wolf adaptive management work group is
July 9 in Glenwood, N.M., from 1 to 5 p.m. The meeting is open to the
public and there will be a public question and answer session.