COURT SETTLEMENT PROVIDES HOPE FOR MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES

NEWS RELEASE: April 25, 2016

Contacts:

Rebecca Bowe, Earthjustice, 415-217-2093, rbowe@earthjustice.org

Steve Parker, Endangered Wolf Center, 636-938-5900, sparker@endangeredwolfcenter.org

Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org

Maggie Howell, Wolf Conservation Center, 914-763-2373, Maggie@nywolf.org

Catalina Tresky, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-0253, ctresky@defenders.org

Preguntas de prensa en Español: Betsy Lopez-Wagner, (415) 217-2159, blopez-wagner@earthjustice.org

COURT SETTLEMENT PROVIDES HOPE FOR MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES

Forty years after Endangered Species Act protection, government required to prepare recovery plan

Tucson, Ariz. — A coalition of wolf conservation groups, environmental organizations and a retired federal wolf biologist today announced a court settlement requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) to prepare a long-delayed recovery plan for Mexican gray wolves by November 2017.

With only 97 individuals existing in the wild at the end of 2015, and fewer than 25 in Mexico, the Mexican gray wolf is one of the most endangered mammals in North America and faces a serious risk of extinction. Thanks to the courts, the Service is finally required to meet its legal obligation of completing a legally-sufficient recovery plan, with the ultimate goal of a healthy, sustainable population of Mexican gray wolves in the wild.

“The settlement announced today provides hope that the lobo can be a living, breathing part of the southwestern landscape instead of just a long-lost frontier legend,” said Tim Preso, Earthjustice attorney. “But to realize that hope, federal officials must take up the challenge of developing a legitimate, science-based recovery plan for the Mexican wolf rather than yielding to political pressure.”

Earthjustice filed a lawsuit in November 2014 to challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s multi-decade delay in completing a recovery plan for the Mexican wolf. Earthjustice represents Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, retired Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator David R. Parsons, the Endangered Wolf Center and the Wolf Conservation Center in the case. Today’s announcement of a settlement agreement follows a September 2015 ruling by a federal judge in Tucson that rejected the government’s effort to dismiss the case.

“Wolves love to follow paths,” said former Mexican wolf recovery leader David Parsons. “Now, finally, the path to recovery for the critically endangered lobos of the southwest will be blazed.”

“After four decades of delay, a scientific roadmap for recovery of the Mexican gray wolf will finally be reality,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The recovery plan should trigger new releases of captive-bred wolves into the wild and establish new Mexican wolf populations in the Grand Canyon and southern Rocky Mountain ecosystems.”

The Service developed a document it labeled a “recovery plan” for the Mexican wolf in 1982—but the Service itself admits that this document was incomplete, intended for only short-term application, and “did not contain objective and measurable recovery criteria for delisting as required by [the Endangered Species Act].” Most importantly, the 34-year-old document did not provide the necessary science-based guidance to move the Mexican gray wolf toward recovery. Without a recovery plan in place, the Service’s Mexican gray wolf conservation efforts have been hobbled by insufficient releases of captive wolves into the wild population, excessive removals of wolves from the wild, and arbitrary geographic restrictions on wolf occupancy of promising recovery habitat. The Service in 2010 admitted that the wild Mexican gray wolf population “is not thriving” and remains “at risk of failure,” and further admitted that “failure to develop an up-to-date recovery plan results in inadequate guidance for the reintroduction and recovery effort.”

“We are racing extinction on the Mexican gray wolf,” said Eva Sargent, senior Southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “The best available science, not political pressure, should lead the recovery planning for the Mexican gray wolf. We need more wolves and less politics.”

The plaintiffs joining today’s settlement agreement include two environmental education organizations that operate captive-breeding facilities that have supported recovery efforts by providing Mexican gray wolves for release into the wild. Despite their efforts, Mexican gray wolf survival continues to be threatened by the lack of a recovery plan to ensure that wolf releases are sufficient to establish a viable population.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail,” said Maggie Howell, executive director of the Wolf Conservation Center in New York. “And for these iconic and imperiled wolves, failure means extinction. This settlement represents a necessary and long overdue step toward recovering America’s most endangered gray wolf and preventing an irrevocable loss from happening on our watch.”

“Education is a key component to the recovery of a species, especially for an animal that has been historically misunderstood and misrepresented. Equally important is an active, up-to-date recovery plan for the species in the wild,” said Virginia Busch, executive director of the Endangered Wolf Center in St. Louis, Mo. “The genetic variability that organizations like the Endangered Wolf Center hold with the Mexican wolf population is hugely valuable for releases and cross-fostering opportunities in the wild. We are pleased to hear that the Service will be taking an active role in developing a recovery plan in a timely manner.”

REPORTER RESOURCES:

Background on Mexican gray wolves and photos for media use: Earthjustice.org/lobo

Read the settlement document: http://earthjustice.org/documents/legal-document/settlement-court-settlement-provides-hope-for-mexican-gray-wolves-0

Read the release online: http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2016/court-settlement-provides-hope-for-mexican-gray-wolves

BACKGROUND: The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi)—the “lobo” of southwestern lore—is the most genetically distinct lineage of wolves in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most endangered mammals in North America. By the mid-1980s, hunting, trapping, and poisoning caused the extinction of lobos in the wild, with only a handful remaining in captivity. In 1998 the wolves were reintroduced into the wild as part of a federal reintroduction program under the Endangered Species Act. Today in the U.S., there is a single wild population in the Blue Range area of Arizona and New Mexico comprising only 97 individuals, all descendants of just seven wild founders of a captive breeding program. These wolves are threatened by illegal killings, legal removals due to conflicts with livestock, and a lack of genetic diversity. Within the past year alone, escalating mortalities and illegal killing, along with reduced pup survival, reduced the wild population from 110 to 97 individuals.

The Service has never written or implemented a legally sufficient Mexican gray wolf recovery plan. Its most recent recovery team has done extensive, rigorous work to determine what needs to be done to save the Mexican gray wolf. Recovery team scientists agreed that, in order to survive, lobos require the establishment of at least three linked populations. Habitat capable of supporting the two additional populations exists in the Grand Canyon ecoregion and in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The recovery team drafted a plan in 2012 that called for establishing three interconnected Mexican gray wolf populations totaling at least 750 animals in these areas, but the plan has never been finalized.

The settlement today requires the Service to complete a valid recovery plan by November 2017 and requires peer review of the recovery plan to ensure its scientific integrity. The settlement has been presented to the federal judge overseeing the case, who must approve it before the settlement becomes binding on the parties.

LEGISLATION POISED TO ALLOW HUNTING AND TRAPPING OF WOLVES TO RESUME

Despite its success and public support, Congress just unveiled its 100th legislative attack on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in just 16 months. Nearly half of these attacks are attempts to delist or block a listing for specific imperiled species.

Since the start of 2016 there have been TWO new efforts to legislate wolves back off the endangered species list: 1) S. 659, the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act, 2) S. 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act.

If either is enacted and signed into law, it would strip federal protections for the wolves in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming and thus allow hunting and trapping of those wolves to immediately resume. To add insult to injury, the language in both amendments include a “no judicial review” clause thus prohibiting any legal challenge.

The amendments direct the Secretary of the Interior to reissue wolf delisting rules that federal courts found illegal under the ESA. Thus, these amendments pose not only to undermine wolf recovery, but also the ESA itself.

Please urge your senators to preserve the spirit and integrity of this important federal law and to oppose any legislation that takes aim at imperiled wildlife!

TAKE ACTION

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Amendment Aims to Strip ESA Protection for Endangered Mexican Wolves

U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced an amendment to the Senate Energy Bill (S. 2012) which, if passed and signed into law, would remove federal protections for the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf - a species already on the brink of extinction.

Sen. Flake’s amendment would direct U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to determine whether there are at least 100 wild wolves remaining in the recovery area, and if so, Mexican gray wolves will lose endangered species act protections permanently.

Please urge your senators to oppose any legislation that takes aim at critically endangered wildlife!

This is urgent, and we appreciate your consideration.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY.

Demand Transparency In Legislation: Oppose S. 2012 and S. 659

On January 20, 2016, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) successfully included an amendment to S. 659, the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015, which, if passed and signed into law, would strip federal protections for gray wolves in four states. On January 29, 2016, a virtually identical provision was successfully included in S. 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act, by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI).

The ESA requires USFWS to base all listing and delisting decisions on the best available science. Thus when determining whether or not to end endangered species protection, federal law requires that an independent panel of scientists be commissioned to provide an objective scientific review of the federal agency’s proposals. Both bills blatantly ignore this federal mandate. Additionally, the specific delisting amendments are completely unrelated to the intent and purpose of these two bills. Not only does this practice challenge the transparency of the legislative process, but it undermines the integrity of our nation’s most significant environmental law.

It appears evident that some politicians have forgotten the bipartisan values that Congress embraced four decades ago when it first passed the ESA. This federal law has given thousands of at-risk species a second chance and has worked successfully to prevent the extinction of 99% of the species placed under its protection. A recent national poll found that the Endangered Species Act is supported by 90% of American voters.

Despite its success and public support, the ESA remains under attack.

Please urge your senators to uphold spirit and integrity of this important federal law by opposing all amendments embedded in bills that would undermine our country’s most effective and publicly supported environmental law.

TAKE ACTION

Wolf Delisting Amendment Intoduced Into a Second Senate Bill

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) introduced an amendment to the Energy Policy Modernization Act today which, if enacted and signed into law, would strip wolves of their federal protections in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Wyoming and thus allow hunting and trapping of those wolves to immediately resume.

It’s the second effort this month to legislate the wolves back off the list. A virtually identical provision was successfully included in the so-called Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015 by U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY). To add insult to injury, the language in both bills include a “no judicial review” clause thus prohibiting any legal challenge. The Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015 passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on January 20 by a vote of 12 to 8 so now it goes to the full Senate.

More

Background

In September of 2014, federal protections for gray wolves in Wyoming were reinstated after a federal judge invalidated the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) delisting of wolves in that state. In December of 2014, federal protections were also reinstated for wolves in the western Great Lakes region (including Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) after another federal judge invalidated FWS’s delisting of wolves in that area. In both cases, the federal courts held that the state management plans for wolves at issue did not sufficiently protect wolves. The result of these two recent court decisions is that wolves in Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are back on the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) list.

This delisting amendment nullifies both of these federal court decisions, directing the Secretary of the Interior to reissue the two wolf delisting rules that federal courts found illegal under the ESA. Thus, this amendment would hand wolf management authority back over to the very states whose management plans were found to be deficient – an action that would not only undermine wolf recovery, but also the ESA itself.

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