Petition Asks Return of Wolves to Washington
Nov. 1, 2002
ENS
Two conservation groups have filed a petition seeking special protection
for gray wolves and their habitat in Washington state.
Defenders of Wildlife and the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance filed a
“distinct population segment” petition under the Endangered Species Act,
which could require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to restore
and protect gray wolves in their remaining natural habitat in the Pacific
Northwest.
“Gray wolves have an important role to play in the ecological health and
character of the Pacific Northwest, and the federal government should
start getting serious about restoring the species here,” said Defenders of
Wildlife president Rodger Schlickeisen. “It’s time to hear the call of the
wild again in these beautiful forests.”
The petition urges the USFWS to establish what is known under the
Endangered Species Act as a distinct population segment for gray wolves in
Washington state. This designation would require the agency to develop and
implement a plan for restoration and protection of gray wolves in suitable
habitat in nine million acres of federally managed lands – including four
million acres of designated wilderness areas.
“The wolf and the Pacific Northwest co-evolved. It is as much a thread in
the fabric of our ecosystems as the salmon and the grizzly,” said Joe
Scott, conservation director of the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance. “We must
seek to recover wolves wherever suitable habitat exists for the sake of
the species and these ecosystems.”
The gray wolf is now listed as endangered in all of the lower 48 states
except Minnesota, where it is listed as threatened. The species has been
reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park and reestablished in the
Northern Rockies. The Mexican wolf has been reintroduced in the area of
the U.S./Mexico border.
In November 2000, Defenders of Wildlife petitioned the USFWS to restore
the gray wolf to the southern Rockies, and petitioned in April 2001 for
restoration in California. These petitions are still pending.
The gray wolf has been returned to less than four percent of its
historic range in the lower 48 states.
The Endangered Species Act requires the federal government to work for the
recovery of an endangered species in suitable habitats throughout its
historic range, where appropriate habitat remains. Habitat surveys have
confirmed that the Blue Mountains of eastern Washington, the Cascades
Mountains, and the Olympic Peninsula are ideal places for wolves, with
large numbers of wild prey species and substantial expanses of remote
public land.
“Wolves belong in this region,” said Nancy Weiss, western director of
species conservation for Defenders of Wildlife.
“There was a time when the federal government waged war on the wolf, and
pushed it to the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states. That time is
over. Now the federal government must live up to its obligation under the
Endangered Species Act and the wishes of the vast majority of Americans
and restore the wolf to this key part of its former habitat.”