Post by deadwolf on Sept 8, 2011 1:41:56 GMT -5
They need to get this moving.
outdoornews.com/minnesota/news/article_115ed778-d452-11e0-8965-001cc4c002e0.html
Inclusion of ‘eastern' wolves in proposal could derail delisting
Minneapolis - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's undertaking of gray wolf delisting in the Midwest took another turn last week when the agency announced the public comment period would reopen for another month. The action, the USFWS said via press release, "will allow for additional public review and the inclusion of any new information."
Laura Ragan, a wildlife biologist at the USFWS's Region 3 office in Minneapolis, said more information regarding wolves recently was made available, prompting another 30-day comment period. The information deals with wolf taxonomy, specifically gray and eastern wolves.
The document, Ragan said, compiled the "best-supported theories" regarding the genetic makeup of gray wolves and eastern wolves.
Besides delisting gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes (including Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan), the USFWS proposal in May would "revise the range of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) in all or parts of 29 eastern states, which, based in part on recognition of the eastern wolf (Canis lycaon) as a full species, were not part of the historical range of the gray wolf."
The comment period will run through Sept. 26.
Ragan said the status review of the eastern wolf "will determine if it warrants listing in any portion of its range," which could include the Midwest.
If it's determined the eastern wolf doesn't warrant federal protection in the Western Great Lakes region, a final rule would delist gray wolves in that area.
However, Ragan said if the eastern wolves warrant protection in the Midwest, "We couldn't have one wolf protected (eastern) and one not (gray).
"If it's determined that eastern wolves in the Western Great Lakes warrant listing, there likely would be a process for withdrawing (current delisting) the proposal," she said.
Supporters of wolf delisting in the Midwest say the wolves now on the landscape are the same animals that were here - in fewer numbers - when they first were federally protected. Further, if the animals aren't visibly distinguished from one another, "it's a moot point," according to Peggy Callahan, executive director of the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake.
"If we need a genetics test (to determine the species type), I think it's a moot point," Callahan said. "(The existence of possible gray-eastern hybrids) shouldn't change management."
She said groups that in the past decade have challenged successfully in the courts efforts to delist wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan - such as the Humane Society of the United States and the Center for Biological Diversity - have been "handed a new tool to use."
Past federal delisting efforts, Callahan said, have had similar "loopholes" favorable to animal rights groups.
"That to me is the most frustrating thing," she said.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance also weighed in on the latest maneuver by the USFWS.
"This scientific one-wolf, two-wolf issue could be a major roadblock for delisting the wolves," the group offered in a press statement. "An incorrect finding by the Service that two species of wolves exist in the Western Great Lakes region would give the animal rights organizations ammunition to try and block returning wolves to state management."
Recent information made available regarding wolf taxonomy came from a number of scientists, including Steven M. Chambers, of the USFWS Division of Ecological Services.
Chambers also wrote in a press release about how consideration of eastern wolves came to be.
"Over the past 30 years, advances in genetic analysis techniques led to a number of wolf genetics studies," he wrote. "As a result of those studies, scientists proposed changes to wolf taxonomy. Because listing decisions are based on taxonomic entities (species, subspecies, distinct population segments of species), the USFWS undertook a review of wolf taxonomy studies and data interpretation in the Lower 48.
"That review concluded that the gray wolf subspecies known as the eastern timber wolf should be elevated to a species - the eastern wolf," he wrote.
State wildlife officials in the Midwest, too, point out that only genetics testing can determine if wolves are grays or easterns or hybrids, and if they both existed in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan. Regardless, they say, wolves in those states have recovered, and should be removed from federal protection.
"These wolves are the same wolves that were here when they were listed under the (ESA), and these wolves have recovered," said Dan Stark, DNR wolf specialist.
Stark said "current thought" is that eastern timber wolves in "pure form" don't exist anywhere, because they've bred with gray wolves or coyotes.
Callahan said it's unknown - with certainty - the "historical" range of eastern wolves. Should the USFWS decide the species should need protection, though, she said a large area of the east - and possibly the Midwest - could be affected.
Another possibility: Ragan said the USFWS could split the final ruling, with one aspect dealing with the 29 "other" eastern states where the listed species (grays) didn't historically occur, and a separate proposal for Western Great Lakes states.
Ragan said the USFWS still plans to issue a final rule by the end of the year.
Comments may be submitted to http://www.regulations.gov; by mail to Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2011-0029, Division of Directives Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM, Arlington, VA 22203.
outdoornews.com/minnesota/news/article_115ed778-d452-11e0-8965-001cc4c002e0.html
Inclusion of ‘eastern' wolves in proposal could derail delisting
Minneapolis - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's undertaking of gray wolf delisting in the Midwest took another turn last week when the agency announced the public comment period would reopen for another month. The action, the USFWS said via press release, "will allow for additional public review and the inclusion of any new information."
Laura Ragan, a wildlife biologist at the USFWS's Region 3 office in Minneapolis, said more information regarding wolves recently was made available, prompting another 30-day comment period. The information deals with wolf taxonomy, specifically gray and eastern wolves.
The document, Ragan said, compiled the "best-supported theories" regarding the genetic makeup of gray wolves and eastern wolves.
Besides delisting gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes (including Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan), the USFWS proposal in May would "revise the range of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) in all or parts of 29 eastern states, which, based in part on recognition of the eastern wolf (Canis lycaon) as a full species, were not part of the historical range of the gray wolf."
The comment period will run through Sept. 26.
Ragan said the status review of the eastern wolf "will determine if it warrants listing in any portion of its range," which could include the Midwest.
If it's determined the eastern wolf doesn't warrant federal protection in the Western Great Lakes region, a final rule would delist gray wolves in that area.
However, Ragan said if the eastern wolves warrant protection in the Midwest, "We couldn't have one wolf protected (eastern) and one not (gray).
"If it's determined that eastern wolves in the Western Great Lakes warrant listing, there likely would be a process for withdrawing (current delisting) the proposal," she said.
Supporters of wolf delisting in the Midwest say the wolves now on the landscape are the same animals that were here - in fewer numbers - when they first were federally protected. Further, if the animals aren't visibly distinguished from one another, "it's a moot point," according to Peggy Callahan, executive director of the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake.
"If we need a genetics test (to determine the species type), I think it's a moot point," Callahan said. "(The existence of possible gray-eastern hybrids) shouldn't change management."
She said groups that in the past decade have challenged successfully in the courts efforts to delist wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan - such as the Humane Society of the United States and the Center for Biological Diversity - have been "handed a new tool to use."
Past federal delisting efforts, Callahan said, have had similar "loopholes" favorable to animal rights groups.
"That to me is the most frustrating thing," she said.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance also weighed in on the latest maneuver by the USFWS.
"This scientific one-wolf, two-wolf issue could be a major roadblock for delisting the wolves," the group offered in a press statement. "An incorrect finding by the Service that two species of wolves exist in the Western Great Lakes region would give the animal rights organizations ammunition to try and block returning wolves to state management."
Recent information made available regarding wolf taxonomy came from a number of scientists, including Steven M. Chambers, of the USFWS Division of Ecological Services.
Chambers also wrote in a press release about how consideration of eastern wolves came to be.
"Over the past 30 years, advances in genetic analysis techniques led to a number of wolf genetics studies," he wrote. "As a result of those studies, scientists proposed changes to wolf taxonomy. Because listing decisions are based on taxonomic entities (species, subspecies, distinct population segments of species), the USFWS undertook a review of wolf taxonomy studies and data interpretation in the Lower 48.
"That review concluded that the gray wolf subspecies known as the eastern timber wolf should be elevated to a species - the eastern wolf," he wrote.
State wildlife officials in the Midwest, too, point out that only genetics testing can determine if wolves are grays or easterns or hybrids, and if they both existed in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan. Regardless, they say, wolves in those states have recovered, and should be removed from federal protection.
"These wolves are the same wolves that were here when they were listed under the (ESA), and these wolves have recovered," said Dan Stark, DNR wolf specialist.
Stark said "current thought" is that eastern timber wolves in "pure form" don't exist anywhere, because they've bred with gray wolves or coyotes.
Callahan said it's unknown - with certainty - the "historical" range of eastern wolves. Should the USFWS decide the species should need protection, though, she said a large area of the east - and possibly the Midwest - could be affected.
Another possibility: Ragan said the USFWS could split the final ruling, with one aspect dealing with the 29 "other" eastern states where the listed species (grays) didn't historically occur, and a separate proposal for Western Great Lakes states.
Ragan said the USFWS still plans to issue a final rule by the end of the year.
Comments may be submitted to http://www.regulations.gov; by mail to Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2011-0029, Division of Directives Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM, Arlington, VA 22203.