Here’s a look at the wolf management issue from the perspective of sportsmen (and women) in Big Game Forever. Their call echos what I hear repeatedly from rural community leaders, Ag producers, and others: wolf conservation desperately needs to be balanced with the conservation of other species and interests. Desperately.
Big Game Forever cites an early, carefully negotiated agreement with USFWS and others over the wolves’ recovery number threshold: 300. That number was surpassed about ten years ago. As you look at the maps, realize that the proliferation of wolves beyond the agreed upon recovery number has done what activist groups haven’t been able to do under the ESA (yet): distribute wolves into new areas and states.
That likely motivates at least some resistance to managing wolf populations. As I noted in a previous blog, groups have filed petitions that, if successful, would reintroduce wolves into states, including California. Read about that at “Dot-catalyst: Bob’s inquiring mind wants to know“.
Balance. To Big Game Forever, this blogger, and many others, it means we care for and value all wildlife and human populations. Not just wolves.
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