I have found myself feeling disgusted and depressed about this new and bloody chapter in the never ending war against wolves. Perhaps you have felt the same way. While dealing with our feelings about this issue is important, it’s also essential we continue to take action to protect wolves. So I went looking for ways that I—and you—can help. Here are four easy actions that I found.
1. Send a personal email to the Department of Interior asking Secretary Deb Haaland to return Endangered Species Act protection to Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves.
The Endangered Species Coalition, which sponsors this campaign, writes, “State legislatures in Montana and Idaho passed—and Governors Little (R-ID) and Gianforte (R-MT) signed into law–a sweeping and widely opposed series of laws that could kill as many as 90 percent of the states' wolves.
“Idaho's newly-enacted law authorizes year-round wolf trapping on private lands, including during the season when nursing pups and females are most vulnerable. It permits the killing of wolves by night hunting with night-vision equipment, aerial gunning, as well as hunting from snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and other brutal methods. It also allows an individual to purchase unlimited wolf tags and to use those tags for hunting, trapping, and snaring in any unit where the season is open.
“In Montana, multiple anti-wolf laws passed this year will allow trappers to use cruel and indiscriminate neck snares to kill multiple wolves during the state’s trapping season and even created a bounty to pay those killing wolves in the state.”
ESC is clear that this legislation creates an emergency for wolves and such an emergency is what “...the authors of the Endangered Species Act envisioned when they included language making emergency relisting possible. If the Biden Administration does not act, the wolves of the Northern Rocky Mountains will be massacred.”
Your email need not be long or literary. You can simply ask Secretary Haaland to return ESA protection to Northern Rocky Mountain wolves.
2. Sign the Project Coyote letter supporting relisting wolves throughout their historic range.
You can add your signature to the letter that Project Coyote sent to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Deputy Director Martha Williams at the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Project Coyote urges Haaland and Williams to respond immediately to a different letter their agencies received, one that was signed by 115 renowned scientists. The scientists asked the administrators to reverse the Trump administration's delisting decision and reinstate federal protections for wolves throughout their historic range.
Those scientists present a powerful and persuasive plea. One of the scientists behind creating the letter, Jeremy Bruskotter, said in a press release, “Emerging science and our experience with wolf conservation indicate there is far more suitable habitat for wolves than was once believed. Recovering wolves in other suitable areas depends critically on wolves dispersing from existing recovery areas. The recent politicization of wolf management in states like Idaho and Montana puts long-term recovery of wolves in jeopardy by reducing the probability of such dispersals.”
To sign on to the Project Coyote letter
3. Support conservation groups petitioning for federal protection for gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains.
In late May, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States, and the Sierra Club submitted a petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service Deputy Director Williams and her boss, Interior Secretary Haaland. The petition requests emergency relisting for the Northern Rocky Mountain wolves that were delisted from ESA protection a decade ago.
The petition reports, “The states of Idaho and Montana have just passed legislation to drastically reduce their wolf populations.” Then the petition points out that the US Fish and Wildlife Service "has recognized that when states alter their wolf management approaches in a way that poses a grave threat to wolf populations in the Northern Rocky Mountains, emergency listing is warranted."
The USFWS has 90 days to respond to the petition. Amanda Eggert, reporting for Montana Free Press, writes that a number of outcomes are possible: the USFWS could deny the petition, use its authority under the ESA to issue an emergency listing, or determine that the petition merits closer investigation and take up to a year to conduct further study and collect public comment.
These conservation organizations have invested and will continue to invest much time and money in trying to protect wolves. Each of these organizations depends on our financial contributions. Please give what you can.
4. Support the conservation organizations suing to restore federal protection for wolves in California, the western two-thirds of Washington and Oregon, and the Great Lakes region.
Three lawsuits have been filed suits to overturn the Trump administration’s delisting of these wolves late last year from ESA protection.
Earth Justice filed a suit representing the Humane Society of the United States, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Oregon Wild, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council.
Kristen Boyles, an Earthjustice attorney, wrote in a January press release, “Wolves are only starting to get a toehold in places like Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, and wolves need federal protection to explore habitat in the Southern Rockies and the Northeast. This delisting decision is what happens when bad science drives bad policy.”
The Western Environmental Law Center filed a suit representing WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Cascadia Wildlands, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), The Lands Council, Wildlands Network, Klamath Forest Alliance, and Kettle Range Conservation Group.
In their January press release, WildEarth Guardians wrote that the most recent data, “show an estimated 4,400 wolves inhabit the western Great Lakes states, but there are only 108 wolves in Washington state (with only 20 outside of eastern Washington), 158 in Oregon (with only 16 outside of northeastern Oregon), and a scant 15 exist in California. Nevada, Utah, and Colorado have had a few wolf sightings over the past three years, but wolves remain essentially absent from their historical habitat in these states.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council has also filed suit. Their January press release states, “We had no other option but to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its missteps in removing gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act. We urged the last administration to maintain federal protection for wolves and to implement a national wolf recovery plan. Instead they removed protections..."
These three lawsuits have been before Judge Jeffrey White at the U.S. District Court for Northern California for months. And now, a number of anti-wolf groups have asked Judge White to consider their opposing side of the story. These groups include the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, the American Farm Bureau, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and American Sheep Industry Association.
Contentious lawsuits like this one consume staff time and money. Your financial contribution will help the conservation organizations trying to overturn the delisting of wolves nationally.
Photo Credit: Oregon Wolf OR 10. Photo by ODFW
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