Defenders Magazine

America's Wolves Threatened Again

An imminent rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service jeopardizes the safety of America's wolf populations

By Nina Fascione

The future of wolves is once again at a crossroads in the lower 48 states. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released a rule in March that significantly reduces federal protections for wolves and sets the stage for removing them from Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections entirely. Conservationists are particularly concerned with two aspects of the new rule: the absence of any plans to pursue wolf recovery in additional areas and the fear that recovered wolf populations will suffer under state management.

Until now, FWS has done an exceptional job at restoring wolves to the United States. The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho is considered by many to be one of the greatest conservation successes of the 20th century. That wolf population has grown from the 66 reintroduced by FWS biologists in 1995 and 1996 to more than 600 today. And under federal protection, wolves in the Great Lakes region have increased from fewer than 1,000 in the 1970s to more than 3,000 today. Still, with approximately 4,000 gray wolves in the Lower 48 states, the species has been returned to less than two percent of its historic range. The new FWS rule lets the agency stop short of completing the job — essentially halting all efforts to continue wolf recovery.

The rule addresses three recovery areas in the United States — the West, the East and the Southwest. In the West, the reintroduced wolves will retain their current protection under the ESA; beyond that population, wolves will be downlisted from endangered to the less protected status of threatened throughout the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest. Although only three of nine states in the region with vast areas of suitable habitat have seen recovery efforts, FWS says it has reached its recovery goals in the northern Rockies and therefore the job is done in the West. To the dismay of conservationists, further recovery in California, Utah, Oregon and Washington is not being considered.

Similarly, wolves will be downlisted to threatened in the Great Lakes and Northeastern states. Despite the absence of wolves outside of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, no new recovery areas will be pursued and FWS plans to eventually remove the Great Lakes wolf population from federal protection. The final recovery region is the Southwest, for which FWS has yet to develop a recovery plan with specific goals for the reintroduced Mexican gray wolf. These wolves will retain their endangered status and are classified as an experimental population.

Another troubling aspect of the proposed rule is that the withdrawal of federal protections may place wolf populations that have already been restored in jeopardy again. Without federal oversight, management of the species would be turned over to state agencies. In preparation, the states have been busily preparing wolf plans, a required blueprint for how states with existing wolf populations will manage the species. Many state agencies have already demonstrated that they are not willing or capable of taking the steps necessary to further wolf restoration.

Unfortunately, the myths and superstitions that led to persecution of wolves in past centuries still survive today in the minds of many. It is not uncommon for those that promote anti-wolf rhetoric to maintain influential positions in local, regional and state legislatures. In Idaho, state lawmakers passed a resolution in 2002 stating that the legislature "not only calls for, but demands, that wolf recovery efforts in Idaho be discontinued immediately, and wolves be removed by whatever means necessary." The approved Idaho wolf management plan reiterates that the resolution, though it does not carry the weight of the law, continues to represent the official position of the state.

Currently there are 21 pieces of state legislation pending in the West that, in the absence of federal oversight, could all negatively impact current and future wolf recovery. Colorado still has a wolf bounty on the books. Two years ago, Minnesota developed a state management plan that includes, in addition to liberal control actions in parts of the state, a $150 payment to "animal controllers" for killed wolves, eerily resembling the bounties of old that contributed to the species' decline in the first place. Although the bill did not have popular support, the Minnesota legislature was able, after multiple efforts over several years, to attach the wolf management plan to a more popular piece of natural resource legislation and pass it as part of a larger package. Environmentalists sued to have this "log-rolled" legislation thrown out, but they lost in court.

These measures do not give conservationists much confidence that wolves will be protected or further restored once federal protections are removed. According to William Snape, chief counsel at Defenders of Wildlife, "Prematurely delisting wolves in the lower 48 makes no sense biologically, and it violates the recovery mandate of the Endangered Species Act. Just because we are better off today than we were a decade ago doesn't mean the job is over. Handing management of wolves back to the states, who have so far shown no intent to responsibly conserve predators, would literally turn the clock back 100 years to when government officials actively promoted the wolf's demise."

It's not only wolves that are at risk from FWS's new rule; entire ecosystems may lose the benefits brought on since wolf restoration began in the mid 1990s. While tourists flock to Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley to witness for themselves the park's most glamorous predator, forest researchers are equally fascinated by the gradual return of quaking aspen, one of the most ecologically important riverside tree species in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Ever since gray wolves were reintroduced in the park seven years ago, aspen have experienced a dramatic comeback. Scientists have determined that there is a direct link between the recovery of the ecosystem's top predator and the trees. Aspen growth essentially stopped once wolves were removed from the park in the 1920s, says William Ripple of Oregon State University's department of forest resources. Now that the wolves have returned, the trees are growing again. Elk, as it turns out, forage differently depending on whether predators are present. During the 60 years wolves were absent from the park, elk spent more time browsing alongside rivers, trampling the low vegetation and inhibiting new growth of native tree species, including aspen. With wolves once again on the scene, elk are behaving more cautiously — avoiding areas with dense foliage and spending more time in open areas in order to keep an eye on their surroundings. This behavior change is altering the entire landscape.

And the changes will continue to spread. In a system known as a "trophic cascade" — the interactions between different levels of the food chain -- predators exert an influence on more than just the numbers of their direct prey. By altering the movements and foraging behavior of elk, wolves are playing a key role in preserving the integrity of Yellowstone's overall biodiversity. "If the aspen and other riparian vegetation of Yellowstone continue to grow taller and expand in canopy cover, the numerous benefits to ecosystem processes will include stream channel stabilization, flood plain restoration and higher water tables. Through a trophic cascade effect of improved habitat, wolves may be beneficial to numerous species of vertebrates and invertebrates such as fish, birds, beaver and butterflies, as well as many other species of wildlife," Ripple says.

Ripple's research on aspen supports what biologists and conservationists have been saying for years — that top predators, particularly wolves, provide an essential service to the environment. "Wolf reintroduction may be useful for programs designed to restore riparian areas and biodiversity, and should be considered for other areas of the United States, as well as other areas of the world where wolves once roamed," Ripple says.

Other beneficial changes have been documented since wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone. Wolves have reduced coyote populations in some areas by up to 50 percent, which in turn enabled smaller animals such as foxes and rodents to rebound. With more rodents available, birds of prey have thrived. Leftover wolf kills benefit a host of other species, including ravens, magpies, golden and bald eagles, foxes, cougars, insects and even the park's famous grizzly bears.

Because of the important role wolves play in the ecosystem, biologists and environmentalists have long encouraged FWS to pursue wolf restoration possibilities in many regions. Several areas of the country have been identified as possessing suitable wolf habitat but still lack this top carnivore. Based on modeling and other scientific studies, biologists feel confident that portions of the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast and the southern Rockies could, combined, be home to 4,000 wolves or more. This is double the number of wolves currently in the lower 48 states.

The Klamath-Siskiyou region of northern California/ southern Oregon is one area identified as containing suitable wolf habitat. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) classifies this land of ancient redwoods and crystal clear rivers as one of the seven most important ecoregions in the United States. It is one of the top three temperate conifer forests in terms of biodiversity. Brian Barr, program officer for wildlands restoration for WWF's Klamath-Siskiyou region, says that "the wolf is one of the things missing in this ecoregion. Repatriating or reintroducing them is desirable so they can exert their ecological benefit on the rest of the species that still exist here." A 1999 study showed that the region could hold up to 440 wolves. Barr says, "Certainly if gray wolf recovery is considered complete because we have populations in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, that's not going to help us out here in California."

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate New York could provide a home for as many as 1,800 wolves, according to recent scientific studies by respected carnivore researchers Dan Harrison and Ted Chapin at the University of Maine and David Mladenoff and Ted Sickley at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The forests of the Northeast are expanding after generations of agricultural use and deforestation in the 1700s and 1800s. Beavers, once scarce in New York, are once again abundant. Moose have rebounded throughout the northeastern states, particularly in Maine. River otters are being restored in New York. Lynx, long thought absent from this region, have been rediscovered in Maine. Yet the wolf, the region's top carnivore, is still missing, and scientists believe the species cannot return on its own without an active reintroduction project. FWS indicated in its proposed wolf rule, released in July 2000, that it would pursue wolf recovery in the northeastern United States, but the final rule abandons those efforts.

Colorado's wolves were extirpated by 1945, but a 1994 feasibility study sponsored by FWS itself showed that the state can still support up to 1,128 wolves. Without them, the willow and aspen on elk's winter foraging range in places like Rocky Mountain National Park and other public lands will continue to decline. Natural recovery is unlikely, because the Red Desert of southern Wyoming serves as a significant barrier to potential wolf dispersal from existing populations in the northern Rockies. FWS's rule instead divides Colorado in half, lumping the northern portion as the West and the southern portion as the Southwest. Defenders petitioned FWS in 2000 to develop a recovery plan specifically for the southern Rockies region, primarily Colorado. Because the new rule does not focus on Colorado as a recovery area, chances of attaining complete wolf restoration in this state are remote.

The widespread persecution of wolves that occurred for much of our nation's history did not cease until people began to better understand the important role wolves play in a healthy ecosystem. Now it is becoming apparent that wolves can even be economically beneficial. The Yellowstone National Park area is estimated to glean millions of dollars annually in increased tourism dollars as a result of people visiting specifically to see wolves. Visitation to Algonquin Park in eastern Canada increases substantially every August when people come from far and wide for the weekly "wolf howls," during which park naturalists imitate wolf howls and often get a response. Ely, Minnesota, home to the International Wolf Center, brings in $3 million annually from this enterprise.

Most people believe there are moral and ethical reasons to restore the wolf as well. Poll after poll across the United States indicates that the majority of the public supports wolf restoration. FWS is the agency charged with restoring our nation's imperiled species, and it has the expertise and resources to make wolf restoration a success. From the Great North Woods of the Northeast to the coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest, we owe it to future generations to restore our ecosystems and pass on a healthy planet, complete with wolves and quaking aspen.

Nina Fascione is vice president for species conservation at Defenders of Wildlife.