Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Friday, March 6, 2009
Montana Wolf in Colorado Now Has New Reason to Stay

Interior Secretary Salazar Strips Federal Protections from Wolves in Northern Rockies
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

DENVER – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today stripped gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains of their legal protections under the Endangered Species Act. Click here for the agency press release. The decision, sure to be challenged by conservation organizations, casts a pall over the fate of a radio-collared wolf that, in late February, wandered into northern Colorado after a journey of nearly 1,000 miles from its origin in Montana. Click here for background.

“Wolves don’t recognize lines on a map,” said Rob Edward of WildEarth Guardians. “Hopefully, this lone female wolf will remain in Colorado where she has the full protection of the law,” said Edward.

“This wandering wolf has shown that there still remains a tenuous, though valuable, connection between Colorado and the Northern Rockies wolf population. Sadly, Secretary Salazar, has made that connection even more tenuous,” said Edward.

Edward indicated that the removal of legal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies is premature, and that it ignores the vast swaths of former habitat that wolves could and should reoccupy.

“Wolves have only reclaimed five-percent of what was once their domain,” said Edward. “In what Universe is that enough?”

Edward is confident that litigation will ultimately restore legal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies. In the meantime, however, they face significant challenges. Moreover, conservationists believe reintroduction will be necessary to repatriate wolves to the Southern Rocky Mountains, despite the occasional wolf that wanders in from the north. Wolves that amble into Colorado are legally protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Edward noted that harassing, injuring or killing wolves is punishable by sizable fines and prison time under the federal law.

“We welcome any and all wolves that venture into Colorado,” said Edward. “Colorado’s wild places need wolves–and wolves will at least find safe haven in Colorado.”