At any time, Congress could remove species from endangered list
<Editor's Note: Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen has released a statement about the organization's continuing efforts to protect the gray wolf.>
The fate of gray wolves—and of the Endangered Species Act itself—may be voted on at any time in the climax of an historic struggle in Congress over budgeting and political philosophy.
Congress took its first stab at approving a full fiscal year 2011 budget on Feb. 19, and unfortunately the House GOP majority and some Democrats proposed slashing billions in public funding and eliminated safeguards for our air, water and wildlife, as well as two dozen anti-environmental policy provisions (riders).
The Senate alternative, unveiled March 4, excluded all of the these anti-environmental riders except one: a rider ordering the Interior Secretary to reinstate a court-overturned 2009 rule. The rule delisted wolves within portions of the northern Rockies, including Montana, Idaho and portions of Utah, Oregon and Washington. It insulated that rule from court review. If enacted, this would be the first time in the ESA’s history that Congress has legislatively delisted a species.
However, on March 9 the Senate rejected both proposals to fund the federal government for the remainder of FY2011. For now, the wolf has been granted a temporary reprieve, but the inclusion of even one anti-environmental rider in a bill eventually passed by the Senate would greatly complicate negotiations for both them and the White House when facing the revolutionaries of the House with their basket full of harmful provisions.
For years, Earthjustice has gone to court to ensure that wolves can recover from the brink of extinction in the northern Rocky Mountains.
Wolves in the lower-48 states were essentially wiped out a few decades ago and have made a slow comeback in the northern Rocky Mountains after reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s. There are now just over 1,600 gray wolves in this region, but the proposed delisting would allow the Rocky Mountain states to maintain at most 300 to 450 wolves—far short of the 2,000 to 3,000 number needed for a sustainable, fully recovered population.
Earthjustice and other conservation groups are concerned because when Congress enacted the law in 1973, it specifically stated that delisting decisions are to be made by wildlife experts in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service—not by politicians.
The very idea that congressional leaders are targeting the gray wolf sets an alarming precedent and could spell disaster for other “politically unpopular” animals—grizzly bears, salmon and polar bears among them.
Although the short-term spending bills that are keeping the government running for now are devoid of anti-environmental policy riders, the fight to protect our air, water, and treasured wildlife is not over. The current resolution expires April 8, so we can expect another round of attacks in the imminent future.
<EDITOR'S NOTE: Some comments generated by this blog item have been personal and derogatory. Please tone down the personal attacks or we will start removing offensive comments. Please be respectful. Thank You, the editors>
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It is way too premature to consider delisting wolves. The simple numbers of elk & deer in comparison with predators such as cougars and wolves tell the whole story. The elk and deer numbers are artificially inflated because of management of them for sport and wildlife agency revenues. Deer and elk have been and continue to be so abundant that they are destroying biodiversity of the whole eco system. I am a hunter and have spent 6 decades enjoying hunting deer and elk and still do, but I admit that it has become easy enough to bag deer and elk that it may no longer be hunting. At least not like I remember hunting 50 years ago. Hunters that expect this abundance of good ole days of hunting to continue are remiss to the realization that our wildlife and forests are in danger of collapsing around us as we consider re-instating policies and attitudes that nearly drove cougars and wolves extinct over 100 years ago. I see in these posts that some people do not get outdoors much but some that are not observant or have been here long enough to comprehend how seeming subtle changes have snowballed into dramatic changes in biodiversity. I recommend a documentary "Lords of Nature" for some education on the subject. The film has run on PBS in some areas but has not for most of the country. You may read about it or get a DVD at: http://www.lordsofnature.org/
the sheer depths of depravity and greed of demons and subhumans involved in annihilating a species is unimaginable. The earth is collapsing and dying under the weight of 7 billion overpopulated humans pillaging and polluting the earth, slaughtering its species and wiping out the very support ladders of life. The only saving grace is that there may be millions of other unspoiled planets out there which savage humanity will never be able to reach and destroy with their primitive technologies before they finally commit suicide and take the planet with them.
The fossil record shows many forms of life that came and went ages before humans were on the planet. No doubt it is the way of the world and it will continue to be that way long after we are gone.
As passionate as some feel about wolves, the wolves do thrive in areas far from modern civilization. The land has changed significantly in the last 200 years, it is daydreaming to think that we can restore the land to ways of that time or that wolves can survive here as they did in that era. More importantly though, it is unkind to bring this burden on our neighbors and the wolves for that matter, a renewed loathing. When wolves reach the urban areas and begin to cause problems there, public opinion will turn on both the radical and conservative conservation movements.
It will be best for all interests to release management of wolves to the states and move on to more urgent issues such as habitat loss to development.
It is so sad how humans have destroyed thousands of species and still make excuses for this behavior, somehow thinking it is justified due to our "superiority". I signed the petition and am hoping somebody with an ounce of decency does something.
If it is wildlife, Salazar kills. He was the worst pick for Secretary of Interior. He had a long history of hate for wolves...and wild horses. Two of the many wildlife the Dept.Of Interior is designed to protect. The wild horses are being brutally rounded-up by helicopter chase in unprecedented numbers verging on extinction. Now we can say goodbye to the wolves again as the slaughter begins. Salaar does as Salazar wants. It is said he has an independent streak. I call it corruption. RANCHER Salazar talks the talk, but the walk is his way or no way.
I am of the opinion that the wolf groups have played their cards wrong. By trying to force too many wolves into the states and preventing reasonable management, greater numbers of citizens are rejecting wolves in general and mistrust of environmental groups has exploded. People are now demanding that wolves are removed from the ESA entirely. I used to think that we could make this work, but now I know better and support total delisting because I now know the people can not trust environmental groups. Here's the thing you have miscalculated, agriculture and recreation make this country run, wolves have now proven themselves detrimental to both. You would have been far better off to stick to the agreement.
I believe that gray wolves have just as much a right as any other animal on the endangered species list as any other to remain on the list.
Humans are not the most important animal on the planet, no one group or species is more important than another. However, if we are lucky enough to be the most evolved creatures, our job should be to protect those creatures who live at our mercy in the fairest way possible. The ESA allows us to help those creatures who cannot speak for themselves.
Thank you EarthJustice, One of my favorite riding areas was closed due to Elk winter feeding. About 6 years ago, they found all of the new born elk dead, after the snow melted, and of course it was blamed on some virus. But, everyone knew that wasn't so. Then the elk stopped wintering there, and moved down towards the major valley. The few that where left, where filmed being chased out onto thin ice at the reservoir by wolves, and they grouped up like they always do, and went for a swim in sub zero temperatures. They all died, couldn't get out of the ice hole they where in. So, now they are talking about reopening the area to snowmobiling, since no elk remain in the winter. Hurray, I can't thank you guys enough, we get our area back. But, I do feel sorry for the Elk. If you do a search for Anderson Ranch Reservoir in Idaho, you'll find the pictures. You'll have to go many pages in, people have pushed the story way down google's search results.
YIPEE! More space for lazy idiotic noisy, polluting, smowmobilies to ride. BTW it is not your area, moron.
The need in a healthy ecosystem for the top predators cannot be overstated. The wolf and the polar bear instinctively scare us, unless we overcome our fear to recognize the whole picture. The whole picture is you, Earthjustice, are my greatest heroes. You speak for the voiceless creatures of nature. You help to keep the web of life intact. Apparently a lot of your bloggers, have forgotten that every breath they take and every bite they eat depends on a functioning ecosystem. Whenever one piece of the web is lost, it is unclear if the web will collapse. But the web can only sustain so much loss before it does collapse. Thank you Earthjustice for working tirelessly for creatures and for us.
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