Scientists Reject Moves to Remove Wolf Protections

Defenders of Wildlife
Tuesday, 28 May 2002

In a strongly-worded letter today to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, 48 noted scientists urged her to scrap her department's plans to downlist the gray wolf under the federal endangered species act. Norton's proposal sets the stage to hand off protection of the species to several state governments, including Idaho, where the legislature recently voted for complete eradication of wolves in the state, and Minnesota, which has re-instituted a bounty on wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's draft rule also would end prospects for the species to return to vast areas of the wolf's former range in the Northeast, Northwest, northern California and the southern Rockies, according to the letter.

"Because of these significant shortcomings with the draft rule we request that FWS terminate the reclassification process. We understand the significance of our request. However, in the draft the FWS defines details concerning wolf recovery in the western U.S. that do not adhere to relevant biological or legal standards," the scientists' letter reads.

"Consequently, a final rule based on the draft will result in substantial litigation, diminish the significant progress with wolf recovery in the Great Lakes region and the northern Rockies, imply to many observers that the Rule is motivated by politics rather than science, and undermine the credibility of the Endangered Species Act and the Service's ability to implement the Act in an honest and objective manner."

Signers of the letter included many of the continent's most prominent wildlife biologists, ecologists, conservation biologists, population biologists, sociologists, and environmental scientists, including Dr. Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, Dr. Stuart Pimm of Columbia University, Dr. Michael Soulé of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Dr. John Terborgh of Duke University and Dr. David Inouye of the University of Maryland. A copy of the letter and list of signers follows this release. "Secretary Norton wants to back away from the job of wolf recovery before the job's finished," said Dr. Mark Shaffer, senior vice president for programs at Defenders of Wildlife. "No one is more anxious to see successful wolf recovery than the signers of this letter and the conservation groups that have invested years in the project, but for FWS to pull the plug prematurely will undo the progress we've made and delay true recovery, perhaps for decades."

A core concern of the scientists signing the letter is that the draft rule would eliminate prospects of wolf recovery in vast areas of prime habitat outside of the Great Lakes and northern Rockies. The proposed rule "overlooks or abrogates scientific and legal principles including the FWS's affirmative responsibility to restore gray wolf populations to 'significant gaps' within the species' historic range that are currently unoccupied, but where restoration remains feasible."

"Scientists have concluded that top predators, notably the gray wolf, are absolutely essential for long-term maintenance of the balance of nature and therefore the long-term maintenance of biodiversity," noted Mike Phillips, executive director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund. The FWS proposal is coming under fire from all sides, including a letter from fish and wildlife agencies in five different states expressing serious concerns about the draft rule.

"Politics rather than science seems to be driving the department on this issue, but it seems to be driving them straight into a brick wall," said Jen Callahan, Rocky Mountain director of the Wildlands Project.

For more information, or to contact Defenders of Wildlife, see their website at: www.defenders.org