IMAG to hold wolf meeting
By Walter Mares, News Editor
It will be the day before Valentine’s, but do not expect anything syrupy or sugar-coated. It will be straight talk. Hopefully it won’t become too gruff.
The subject is wolves, those creatures whose presence is controversial and stirs fear or passion in many people.
The Interagency Manage-ment Advisory group will hold its quarterly meeting at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 13, at the Greenlee County Court-house in Clifton.
The topic is the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program. It is a public meeting and the Greenlee County board of Supervisors hopes plenty of folks show up.
IMAG is made up of representatives from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, game and fish departments from Arizona and New Mexico, county commissioners from Catron County, N.M., and Greenlee Supervisor Hector Ruedas.
Ruedas and fellow Greenlee Supervisors Dixie Zumwalt and Donald Stacey have long opposed the wolf re-introduction program. They cite losses to cattle growers and safety concerns for ranchers and the public.
Wolves were released in northern Greenlee County, which consists mostly of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Cattle ranches have existed in that part of the county since the late 1800s. Ranching was at one time a big industry in Greenlee. Those who are hanging on say the presence of wolves has added to their plight.
Ranchers have been hard hit by the current drought and other factors, including reduction in grazing allotments.
Ruedas said the IMAG meeting will be mostly an informational session. Brian Kelly of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will be present. He is in charge of the wolf re-introduction program, which began about seven years ago.
“I’m happy he’s finally coming,” Ruedas said, adding his constituents in northern Greenlee have been anxious to meet with Kelly, who was in Clifton for a meeting last fall.
“I feel it’s going to be a successful meeting. I hope we have a good bunch of people there,” he said.
Ruedas said he expects attendance by people who have pro and con opinions about the wolf program. The public will be allowed to comment and ask questions.
He said the last IMAG meeting was held in Reserve, N.M., and at times became somewhat rowdy. “Some of those cowboys over there had plenty to say and got kind of excited,” Ruedas said.
He said of the wolf program, “It’s getting into their livelihood. Their whole style of living has changed. They used to be comfortable in the outdoors. They didn’t have to carry any weapons.”
He said with the presence of wolves, ranchers feel their children, dogs and horses are no longer safe.
Management of the program may be handed over to the Arizona Game & Fish Department, which Ruedas said he feels more comfortable with. For one thing, it affords more local control than having the federal government in charge.
Ruedas said as far as he knows, the AG&F is “supposed” to take over the program, but he does not yet know if that will actually happen. He said if it does occur, IMAG will remain involved and he expects some continued involvement by the feds.
The IMAG meeting will be held in the upstairs conference room of the courthouse annex. For information call the board of supervisors’ office at 865-4604 or 865-2072.