Ashland Current
Authors of a recent journal article suggest that long-term conservation of gray wolves is possible if states recognize a legal obligation to conserve the species as a public trust resource.
Adrian Treves, associate professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and head of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is co-author of an article titled “Rescuing Wolves from Politics: Wildlife as a Public Trust Resource” in the current issue of the journal Science.
According to information from UW-Madison, Treves and his fellow authors examine the wildlife trust doctrine as way to promote the conservation of wolves and other imperiled species under state management following the removal of gray wolves from the federal endangered species list in some western states in April and the anticipated delisting in 2012 in areas of the Midwest.
The wildlife trust doctrine is the principle that government must conserve natural resources for the public good.