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Home > Programs and Policy > Wildlife Conservation > Imperiled Species > Wolves > Regional Wolf Recovery Efforts > Northeast Wolves

Northeast Wolves: In the Field

Defenders of Wildlife has been leading wolf recovery efforts in the Northeast since 1995. Here are some highlights of our activities:

Outreach and Education

  • Presented Defenders' Wolf Information Booth at more than 200 events, providing information to more than 50,000 people since 1996.
  • Created Northeast outreach coordinator and field representative positions that gave more than 100 presentations annually.
  • Sponsored ambassador wolf programs.
  • Developed wolf education curriculum for grades 4-12.

Research

  • Raised $115,000 for an Adirondack wolf reintroduction feasibility study
  • Purchased recording and remote photography equipment to help the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife follow-up on potential wolf sightings.
  • Collaborated with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Conservation Breeding Specialist Group in July 2000, to organize a workshop to exchange stakeholder views on the future of wolves in the Northeast.
  • Helped organize and sponsor a Vermont conference in 2001 that focused on scientific issues of eastern wolf restoration such as genetics and habitat.
  • Presented papers at numerous wildlife conferences throughout the country.

Activism

  • Submitted a petition to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton requesting the creation of a Northeast Distinct Population Segment.
  • Submitted comments on the proposed rule to remove federal protections for wolves in the entire Eastern United States.
  • Filed suit against the Bush Administration’s plans to lessen federal protections for wolves through the lower-48 states, which would have prevented wolf recovery efforts in the northeast. The Court ruled that it was unlawful for the Administration to weaken legal protections for the wolf in large areas of its historic range based on recovery success in a just a few core areas like the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes. See the court’s decision
  • Collected more than 100,000 signatures to petition the US Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct an environmental impact study on wolf restoration.  
  • Held multiple meetings with state and federal legislators to inform of issues.

Networking

  • Initiated the Coalition to Restore the Eastern Wolf (CREW). Currently, Defenders serves on the steering committee for CREW, a partnership of local, regional and national conservation organizations working together to recover healthy wolf populations in the northeastern United States.
  • Convened the Adirondack Wolf Citizens Advisory Committee, a stakeholders group responsible for designing the Adirondack feasibility study.
  • Organized informational meetings between US Fish and Wildlife Service, wildlife agencies from NY, VT, NH and ME, forest products associations and conservation groups.