Walter Medwid, executive director of the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota, and Pam Troxell, Coordinator of the Timber Wolf Alliance in Wisconsin, have been recognized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their efforts to recover the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes. Each was given the Silver Eagle Award, the most prestigious award given by the Service’s Midwest Region to individuals outside the agency who have made exceptional contributions to natural resource causes.
“ Pam and Walter put their skills and passions to work through the organizations they run and filled a critically important role,” said Robyn Thorson, the Service’s Midwest Regional Director. “Without their skill, energy, expertise, and leadership, it is unlikely we would have enjoyed the civil discussion and science-based management planning that have been the norm in the Midwest. We can credit Pam and Walter for playing key roles in successfully restoring wolves to the Upper Midwest; without their help, delisting would likely still be a dream rather than a reality.”
Thorson cited the honorees’ work to raise public awareness about wolves and to dispel myths often associated with the species. That outreach led to public support for recovery activities by the Service, states, and other partners that restored wolves to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The Service recently removed the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes from the federal list of endangered and threatened species.
As executive director of the International Wolf Center, Medwid led his organization’s efforts to foster wolf recovery through promoting objective, science-based information. His oversight of the International Wolf Center’s four International Wolf Symposia since 1990 has generated new information from around the world and promoted communication among resource administrators, managers, biologists, and the public. This helped set the stage for public acceptance of recovering wolf populations, especially in the Midwest.
Troxell was recognized for her extensive work with the Timber Wolf Alliance, located at Northland Colleges Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute in Ashland, Wisconsin. The Alliance promotes the establishment and maintenance of sustainable wolf populations and assists natural resources managers with achieving that same goal. Troxell leads efforts to teach school children and members of the public about gray wolves, expanding TWAs activities to include Michigan and Illinois. She is the main force behind an annual “Wolf Awareness Week” with national and regional events, and also organizes workshops and conferences to raise awareness about wolves and their role in the ecosystems they inhabit. Troxell served on the Wisconsin Wolf Advisory Committee and helped the state develop the 1999 Wisconsin Wolf Management Plan.
After decades of work by states, tribes, conservation groups and the federal government to reverse the gray wolfs decline toward extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently determined the species in the western Great Lakes region is recovered, and has removed gray wolves in this region from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Rebounding from a few hundred wolves in Minnesota in the 1970s when listed as endangered, the region’s gray wolf population now numbers about 4,000 and occupies large portions of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. Wolf numbers in the three states have exceeded the numerical recovery criteria established in the species’ Recovery Plan for several years.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
