The Services determination included information from the June 1997 revised management plan for the Tongass National Forest. In 1996, the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia ordered the Service to evaluate the status of both animals under the current Tongass National Forest Land Management Plan. The court permitted the Service to consider the revised management plan in making its determination.
The Archipelago wolf occurs only in southeastern Alaska. The Queen Charlotte goshawk occurs in Southeastern Alaska and on Queen Charlotte and Vancouver Islands in British Columbia, Canada. A significant portion of each species range occurs within the Tongass National Forest.
The endangered classification means that a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Threatened means that a species is likely to become endangered throughout all or a significant portion of its range within the foreseeable future. In determining whether a species warrants listing, the Service considers: threatened destruction, modification or curtailment of an animals habitat or range; overuse for commercial, recreational, scientific or educational purposes; disease or predation; inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms or other natural or manmade factors affecting a species continued existence.
The Service noted that the Alaska Board of Game and the Federal Subsistence Board have revised wolf trapping and hunting regulations to limit the wolf harvest on Prince of Wales Island. The Service further noted a decline in the wolfs favored prey, the Sitka black-tailed deer, due to logging of oldgrowth forests, but determined that the wolf population is expected to stabilize at acceptable levels. Biologists also acknowledged that the Archipelago wolf is particularly resilient because of a high reproductive rate and an ability to switch to alternative prey.
The Queen Charlotte goshawk is likewise expected to maintain an acceptable population level despite the logging of old-growth forest. Large reserves within the Tongass National Forest will remain uncut and, while less old-growth will remain uncut in Canada, several large areas on the Queen Charlotte Islands are protected from harvest. Given the considerable amount of old-growth forest that will be maintained, the Service believes the species survival is secure.
The Services decision regarding the Archipelago wolf and Queen Charlotte goshawk will be published in the Federal Register the week of September 1.
-FWS-
