Last week the Trump administration announced that they would drop Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf in the lower 48 states. This should be good news for livestock producers. We’ve been watching this wolf episode since 1975 and livestock producers have been living with them since then. It has been nothing but a problem for livestock producers in the Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains. The bulk of the wolf population is in the Great Lakes Region.
News comes almost weekly about livestock depredations because of the gray wolf and the Mexican gray wolf in the Southwest. Returning these apex predators has caused nothing but problems for livestock producers ever since they were reintroduced.
David Bernhardt, the new secretary of interior, announced the plan to delist the gray wolf at a wildlife conference in Denver. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) spokesman, Gavin Shire, said, “Recovery of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is one of our nation’s great conservation successes, with the wolf joining other cherished species, such as the bald eagle that have been brought back from the brink.”
If the federal government gets this done, it will be close to a miracle. The opposition is formidable. Then you must worry about how the states enact their own ESA laws. Folks in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have learned how to deal with wolves, to an extent. They have hunting seasons to keep the population in check. Wyoming recently tried to open a hunting season for grizzly bears, but wildlife activists ended that idea through the courts.
Washington, Oregon and California producers have had the most difficult time dealing with wolves because of unworkable state laws. Oregon and Washington have been trying to overhaul their state wolf management plans, but they can’t even get the wildlife activists to the table to deal with it.
This is a situation where we have a true urban, rural divide. Knowing that wolves are in your neighborhood is an unsettling thought. I’m honestly surprised that a wolf hasn’t drug some small child off the back porch yet. We all talk about a healthy ecosystem and diversity, but everyone seemed to get along just fine without the wolf population.
It would be helpful if USFWS would stick to the science on their recovery goal; the population has increased to more than 5,000 wolves nationwide. Their populations are expanding and moving to new locations. It’s remarkable that in the Northwest just several hundred wolves have caused as much damage to livestock producers as they have.
As you can imagine the environmental activist groups are going crazy right now. Their use of the court system, judge shopping, along with the Equal Access to Justice Act means they are more than content to file lawsuits day after day. To these activists it’s a game; they have nothing to lose. You, on the other hand, have a lot to lose.
Livestock producers must be given the opportunity to protect their private property and livestock is private property. Most urban activists have never even seen a gray wolf and frankly I don’t really care to. It’s a public safety issue which I don’t think a lot of folks realize. Remember the gal in Washington who was forced to climb a tree to escape a murdering wolf, and the big issue was whether the Washington Fish and Wildlife people should send a helicopter or make a three-hour hike to save this woman.
When will some common sense take hold of these activist groups? Wolves are predators; they are carnivores. They kill wildlife and livestock and people. They cost livestock producers real money and stress. These wolves need to be controlled. They are a menace to society, which is why they were nearly exterminated to begin with.
Our friends at Western Watersheds Project, Erik Molvar, said, “From the Grand Canyon to the Colorado Rockies to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, there are vast areas of public land that offer habitats ideally suited to wolves, and yet the howl of the wolf is absent from these parts of its native range. To strip away federal protections now is to ensure that the howl will remain forever missing.” Is this enough of a tug on your heartstrings for you to get excited about your new neighbors, or does it make you sick?
The ESA laws do need some fixing. We were getting close, then an election came along and now we must listen to new leaders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). All conservation is local so let’s get the Feds out of the picture. Let’s get some local collaboration going. — PETE CROW
