Some Amazing Conservation is Happening out West Despite Challenging Issues

Posted At : January 9, 2013 7:43 AM | Posted By : Trott, Matthew E
Related Categories: WAFWA, Greater Sage-Grouse, Prairie-Chicken, U.S.Fish and Wildlife, director_blog, Wolves, endangered, Prairie Potholes, blackfootedferret, National Wildlife Refuge System

I ventured down to Tucson, Arizona, for a few days recently for the winter meeting of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA).

Lee Metcalf NWR The landscape at Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in western Montana is just one type we manage with WAFWA. Credit: Bob Danley/USFWS

WAFWA represents U.S. states from Alaska and Hawaii to Texas and the Dakotas. Several Canadian provinces are also members. That’s almost 4 million square miles, home to more than 1,500 wildlife species.

WAFWA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worked, side-by-side, on a number of conservation successes last year.

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The Recovery of the Wolf and What's Next

Posted At : October 5, 2011 3:38 PM | Posted By : Davidson, Michael
Related Categories: Gray_wolf, wyoming, Ashe, Director, director_blog, Wolves, danashe, Dan-Ashe, Dan

With more than 1,650 wolves, 244 packs, and 110 breeding pairs, the gray wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountains has biologically recovered. As a result, we've proposed to remove the gray wolf population in Wyoming from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.

The proposal to delist wolves in Wyoming hinges upon the State's commitment to a revised wolf management plan, which now contains sufficient protections and safeguards to ensure that wolves never again end up on the list.

The road to recovery hasn't been easy. Many people have worked hard to make sure recovery goals have been met, and we've been happy to see those goals exceeded for eleven straight years.

We understand that there may be an emotional reaction among some wolf advocates to the prospect of wolf hunting under state management. But an examination of this plan, in light of what we know to be true about the wolf population in the Northern Rocky Mountains, supports our conclusion that wolves are no longer threatened or endangered in Wyoming and that management should be returned to the state.

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