Adirondack Council Calls on Public to Help Keep Gray Wolves on the Endangered Species List
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Wednesday, December 11, 2013
ELIZABETHTOWN, N.Y. – The Adirondack Park’s leading environmental advocacy organization today called on its members and the public to oppose a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) plan to remove the gray wolf from the federal Endangered Species list.
Listed species are eligible to receive special federal protection from hunting, trapping and habitat loss. USFWS will accept public comments on the delisting plan until Tuesday, Dec. 17. (Contact information below.)
| While gray wolf populations have rebounded well in certain areas of the western mountain ranges over the past few decades, it still remains missing throughout much of its historic range, including the Adirondacks,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway. “It would be premature to remove the federal protections that have allowed wolf populations to successfully rebound in some parts of their historic range, and deny them the chance in other areas. Our policies should be wolf friendly. |  |
We have a six-million-acre park in Upstate New York, with large areas of protected habitat that wolves once inhabited,” Janeway noted. “Without having the protections of the Endangered Species Act, any wolves that naturally migrate into the region would be susceptible to inappropriate hunting and trapping regulations, making it highly unlikely that a viable population would ever get re-established.”
The USFWS claims that the gray wolf's population has been restored to its historic range and no longer needs federal protection to prevent extinction, Janeway explained. This belies decades of USFWS’s own research that has always identified the Northeast as part of the gray wolf’s historic range.
By delisting the gray wolf, the USFWS is violating the Act, he said. “Delisting would leave vulnerable wolves that might naturally return to the Adirondacks on their own,” Janeway said. “The wolf is a missing component of the regional ecology and one of the top predators that once called the Adirondacks home.”
“We believe in the value of wilderness and wild things. The possible return of the wolf would be an affirmation of a healthy and wild ecosystem and part of what makes the Adirondacks so unique,” Janeway said. “Just like the call of the loon, the howl of the wolf is something that fits the Adirondack landscape and would provide a wonderful and unforgettable experience for those that may one day hear it.”
Janeway urged Adirondack Council members and the general public to write to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, urging it to reject the delisting plan and continue special protections for wolves and wolf habitat.
Individual comments may be submitted on the USFWS website or regular mail.
Website:
www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FWS-HQ-ES-2013-0073-30560
Mailing address:
Public Comments Processing
Attn: Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2013-0073
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM
Arlington, VA 22203
The Adirondack Council is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. The Council envisions an Adirondack Park composed of core wilderness areas, surrounded by working forests and farms and augmented by vibrant, rural communities.
The Adirondack Council carries out its mission through research, education, advocacy and legal action. Adirondack Council members live in all 50 United States.
