Photo Credit: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Gray wolf reintroduction and protection – the wild needs wolves!

Protecting and Reintroducing Wolves

WildEarth Guardians is working hard for wolves on the Western landscape by advocating in the courts, enforcing existing legal protections, pressing for prompt wolf reintroduction, and protecting the wild places upon which wolves depend.

Defend the Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act is our country’s most essential environmental law protecting plants and animals, yet some members of Congress want to weaken the law. Tell Congress you value native wildlife and want to see all imperiled species protected.

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Vision

We know that wolves need the wild and the wild needs wolves.

We believe wolves should be allowed to work their ecological magic. Wolves should be present on the landscape in sufficient numbers to keep elk and deer alert and moving, allowing willow and aspen regrowth and supporting healthy streams and songbird habitat, and creating a host of other positive cascading effects throughout the ecosystem.

Strategies

On the Ground

We are building and mobilizing grassroots support for wolf recovery across the West.

In the Southwest

We are working to improve the Mexican wolf’s protections under the Endangered Species Act and pressing for more Mexican wolf releases into the wild.

In New Mexico

We are advocating for outlawing leghold traps on our public lands.

In the Northern Rockies

We are challenging wolf-killing plans and advocating for greater tolerance and understanding on the ground.

In the Southern Rockies

We are pressing for the return of the wolf through additional releases of Mexican wolves and reintroductions of gray wolves where they remain absent and for improved safeguards for wolf habitat.

In the Gila

We are advocating for voluntary permanent grazing permit retirement to reduce conflicts with wolves and ensure their recovery.

A History of Wolves

From “Little Red Riding Hood” through today, wolves have faced a history of intolerance at the hands of humans. Learn how far human attitudes toward wolves have come and why wolves still need our compassion.

Humans Vs Wolves: A History

Accomplishments

In spring 2018, Guardians won our challenge to inadequate protections for Mexican wolves. We are currently challenging the woefully flawed 2017 Mexican wolf recovery plan.

In December, 2015 we won our challenge to the federal wildlife killing agency, Wildlife Services’, wolf killing plans in Washington state.

In April 2014, Guardians brokered the first voluntary grazing permit retirement on the Gila National Forest, returning nearly 50 square miles of wolf country to the wild. We have another permit retirement agreement signed and are collaborating with ranchers across the region to resolve resource challenges and recover the Mexican wolf.

Throughout 2014, Guardians tabled for wolves at 46 events in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, collecting 2,587 postcards asking Interior Sec. Sally Jewell to maintain endangered species protection for wolves and taking 252 “Kids Love Wolves” photos.

Guardians rallied wolf supporters to testify at two Mexican wolf hearings to improve protections for the wolves; one in Pinetop, Arizona, and one in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Pro-wolf speakers outnumbered anti-wolf speakers 2 to 1. We subsequently won our challenge to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s inadequate protections for Mexican wolves.

In February 2012, Guardians helped convince the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks commission not to extend a wolf-hunting season in the West Fork of the Bitterroot.

In April 2011, Guardians secured a legal settlement on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico that requires the Forest Service to more carefully consider the needs of wolves in key areas.

How You Can Help

Help protect the incredible, vulnerable wildlife of the West! Be a guardian for the wild by joining the conversation, learning about current issues, and making your voice heard. Together, we’re a powerful force for nature.

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Support Our Work

Wildlife Press

Campaign launched to overhaul state management of wolves

Jun 23, 2021

PORTLAND, Ore.— A new s…

Time to terminate wildlife killing contests

The Register-Guard | May 18, 2021

"Wildlife Killing Contests" is — as intended — extremely difficult to watch. The recently released 25-minute documentary, produced by Filipe DeAndrade and Brian Moghari in partnership with Project Coyote, contains graphic footage of animals being callously slain for entertainment and prize money, only to be added to piles of carcasses used for vain photo opportunities.

Activists fear Biden’s climate pledges are falling apart: ‘We aren’t seeing grit’

The Guardian | Jun 22, 2021

On his first day at the White House, Joe Biden earned praise for following through on several campaign promises, committing the US to strict climate goals and a greener future. Now, nearly six months into his presidency, several of those commitments are being put to the test, and already, many are falling apart.

Megan Sweeney

Wild Places Intern

Megan is a rising 3L at the University of Oregon School of Law. Originally from Jupiter, Florida, she grew up scuba diving, snorkeling, and hiking in a state with unique ecosystems such as everglades and coral reefs, shaping her into the environmentally conscious individual she is today. Working at a sea turtle hospital and watching toxic algae blooms negatively affect both coral reefs and endangered species inspired her to drive positive change and pursue a career in environmental law.

She attended the University of Florida and graduated in 2018 with a BS in Marine Science with minors in Mathematics and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. After graduation, she worked as an intern at JLA Geosciences, a hydrogeological contracting firm where she learned the importance of sustainable water and land management. Megan is very involved with the environmental law community through her leadership roles in the Land Air Water Environmental Law Society. Megan helped organize both the 2020 and 2021 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) through her positions as a 1L Representative and a Conference Co-Director. During her 3L year she will serve as a Land Air Water Co-Director. She has also been involved with the University Oregon’s Environmental and Natural Resources Center as a Fellow on the Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds Project.

Her research is focused on Biocriteria and reforming the CWA to better protect coral reefs and better address agricultural runoff. During her 2L year she also competed in the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. During the summer of 2020 she worked for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. In the fall of 2020, she had a judicial externship at the U.S. District Court District of Oregon working for the Honorable Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai. Megan is very excited to gain further litigation skills by working in the Wildlife Program at the Portland Office of WildEarth Guardians.

Contact

978-701-4343

Tessa Archibald

WIldlife Program Intern

Tessa Archibald is a passionate animal lover with a desire to preserve our natural world and increase respect for all species. She obtained a BS in Biopsychology from Tufts University and is currently working towards a Masters in Animals and Public Policy at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. She hopes that an understanding of complex human animal interactions and policy will promote more empathetic management of wildlife across all lands!

Contact

[email protected]
505-660-0284

Joe Bushyhead

Endangered Species Policy Advocate

Joe Bushyhead joined Guardians in May 2021 as our Endangered Species Policy Advocate. Based in Denver, he works to protect imperiled Western species as well as the integrity of the Endangered Species Act itself.

Prior to Guardians, Joe spent seven years as a staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and clerked for the Honorable Tena Campbell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. He holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law. Before law school, he worked for the Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resource Management on, among other projects, a study of Chinook salmon in Idaho’s South Fork of the Salmon River watershed.

Contact

[email protected]

Hailey Zimber

Research Intern

My name is Hailey Zimber and I am a rising senior majoring in Politics at Whitman College. I am thrilled to be joining WildEarth Guardians as a research and community organizing intern for the Greater Gila Campaign. As a born and raised New Mexican, the Greater Gila is one of the silos of wilderness that have shaped who I know myself to be. Protecting the Gila means protecting myself, my state, and my community, and for this reason, this position is especially meaningful to me.

Dustin Martin

Member, Board of Directors

Dustin grew up hiking, camping, riding, skiing and running the vast outdoor sanctuaries surrounding Gallup, NM. Distance running led him to New York City, where he earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Columbia University. In 2011, Dustin returned to the southwest to serve as program director for Wings of America- a not for profit that empowers Tribal youth and their families by introducing them to the cultural, spiritual and competitive legacy of Native runners. Under his leadership, the organization has continued to provide elite-level opportunities for talented Native runners while making a concerted effort to create new programs for fledgling harriers of all abilities. Moving forward, Dustin hopes to continue promoting the positive achievements of Native runners while helping foster and test new models for acquainting Native youth with their ancestral homelands.

Francine D. Spang-Willis

Member, Board of Directors

Francine D. Spang-Willis is of Cheyenne, Pawnee, and settler descent. She is a descendant of Chief Dull Knife, also known as Morning Star, and Pawnee Woman. She is also a descendant of a pioneer family who settled in Montana during the late 1800s. Francine received a Master of Arts in Oral History from Columbia University and a Master of Arts in Native American Studies from Montana State University. Her graduate studies have focused on settler colonialism processes and bison and land restoration. Her work has primarily focused on helping others learn about these processes and to evolve them for the benefit of the greater whole. She enjoys hiking, skiing, ice climbing, and spending time with her husband and beagle near Bozeman and their off-grid cabin near the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Contact

[email protected]
505-396-1752

Tricia Snyder

Rio Grande Campaigner

Tricia, as a child of military parents, spent much of her childhood moving frequently in the U.S. and abroad, but calls El Paso, TX home. Growing up on the banks of the (often dry) Rio Grande and the water scarcity of the Southwest sparked a life-long interest in finding solutions for water conflicts in the arid and semi-arid American West. Tricia received a B.S. in Geography with a focus on human-environment connection from New Mexico State University. Her research while there centered on water management across borders. She spent 5 years working with the Southwest Environmental Center working to protect and restore the wildlife and wild places of the Southwest borderlands, particularly focused on the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf. In 2015, Tricia moved to Washington state to pursue a graduate degree, receiving an M.S. in Cultural and Environmental Resource Management from Central Washington University. Her thesis, which conducted an adaptive capacity assessment of the Upper Klamath Basin, utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She worked for nearly four years on salmon recovery as the Lead Entity Coordinator for the Yakima Basin in central Washington, bringing together a diverse group of interests and perspectives. Tricia joined WildEarth Guardians as the Rio Grande Campaigner in 2021.

Gray wolf reintroduction and protection – the wild needs wolves!

Protecting and Reintroducing Wolves

Defend the Endangered Species Act

Vision

We know that wolves need the wild and the wild needs wolves.

Strategies

On the Ground

In the Southwest

In New Mexico

In the Northern Rockies

In the Southern Rockies

In the Gila

A History of Wolves

Accomplishments

How You Can Help

Recent Stories From Wildlife

Wildlife Press

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.

Megan Sweeney

Wild Places Intern

Contact

Tessa Archibald

WIldlife Program Intern

Contact

Joe Bushyhead

Endangered Species Policy Advocate

Contact

Hailey Zimber

Research Intern

Dustin Martin

Member, Board of Directors

Francine D. Spang-Willis

Member, Board of Directors

Contact

Tricia Snyder

Rio Grande Campaigner