Wolves hang in balance

The Register Guard, Editorial
July 15, 2014

It’s a curious disconnect: At the same time federal officials are celebrating the recovery of gray wolves as one of the great victories of the Endangered Species Act and are preparing to remove protections for Canis lupus in the lower 48 states, the population of the species in the strategically important Yellowstone National Park region has declined in recent years because of hunting.

It’s also curious that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proceeding with plans to eliminate protections, insisting that the wolf has sufficiently recovered after being hunted to near extinction more than a half century ago. Yet many wildlife biologists warn that the species’ numbers have not reached sustainable levels and that the gray wolf has only begun to re-establish itself in historic ranges such as California and Oregon.

As the ranking minority member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., has kept close watch on the recovery of gray wolves, which he rightly understands are an integral part of a natural, healthy ecosystem. Last week, DeFazio sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell proposing the creation of buffer zones to protect wolves in areas surrounding Yellowstone and other national parks.

If the federal government persists with its premature de-listing plan, the protection of wolves outside park borders is an essential adjustment. While killing the animals would still be prohibited inside Yellowstone and other parks if de-listing occurs, DeFazio notes the wide-roaming wolves are now being shot and killed outside park borders thanks to state regulations that allow hunters to kill wolves, in some cases on sight and without limit.

The Yellowstone region has played a pivotal role in wolf recovery. Wolves were once abundant in the West before white settlers arrived, but they were hunted nearly to extinction — and were wiped out entirely in Oregon — before federal wildlife agencies reintroduced wolves in Yellowstone in the mid-1990s. Under federal protection, the animals thrived and began what eventually can be — but is not yet — a full recovery.

Because of court rulings, wolves are already under state rather than federal control in several states, including Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Wolf management in those states has been strongly influenced by hunting and livestock interests and threatens to reverse what until recently was a conservation success story in the making. More than 2,800 wolves have been slaughtered since the partial delisting occurred in 2011.

Earlier this year, DeFazio and 72 other members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, asked Jewell to abandon the de-listing plan. Among other findings, they cited an independent peer review showing that the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to use the “best available science” when it drafted the delisting proposal and warned that removal of protections would be premature.

The only possible explanation for why federal agencies have ignored the pleas of scientists and members of Congress is that the Obama administration is weary of protecting the wolves from hunters and ranchers and political interests that would be happy to see wolves disappear once again from the nation’s wilds.

Jewell should keep in mind that the stated goal of the Endangered Species Act is to save species from extinction and to allow their full recovery by removing threats to their survival. That hasn’t happened yet for the gray wolf.