Mexican Wolf Recovery Planning

The Southwest Region has initiated the revision of the 1982 Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan. In December, 2010, the Service's Southwest Regional Director appointed a new recovery team to develop a revised recovery plan for the Mexican wolf. The Mexican Wolf Recovery Team includes a Tribal Liaisons Subgroup, Stakeholder Liaisons Subgroup, Agency Liaisons Subgroup, and a Science and Planning Subgroup. When completed and approved by the Southwest Regional Director, the Revised Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan will include objective and measurable recovery criteria for delisting the Mexican wolf from the List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plants, management actions that will achieve the criteria, and time and cost estimates for these actions.

The Service will begin exploring options for implementation of the Revised Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan's recovery actions in 2013 and beyond.

2011

The Team held three full (all subgroups) team meetings in 2011, and three meetings of the Science and Planning Subgroup. During 2011, our meetings focused on discussing information related to the development of draft recovery criteria, including population viability analyses, habitat analyses, and genetics information. The Science and Planning Subgroup began drafting text for the plan related to these analyses. We also explored the binational aspects of recovery planning with Mexico, which has its own recovery plan for the Mexican wolf.

2012

During 2012, the Team will continue discussion of draft recovery criteria and will begin developing recovery actions to achieve the recovery criteria. Such actions could include recommendations related to the captive breeding program, reintroduction of Mexican wolves to the wild, and educational materials to promote social tolerance. We are continuing discussions with Mexico to determine effective avenues for binational collaboration on the Mexican wolf recovery effort.

2013

During 2013, we plan to release the Draft Revised Recovery Plan for public and peer review. After incorporating comments from these reviews, the Team will finalize the plan and submit it to the Southwest Regional Director for approval.

2014

We expect to approve, and release to the public, the final Revised Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan in 2014.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with
others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and
their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

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