Buzz,
Here was a press release from that site as well....do agree with the DOW's position in this PR? They have a lot of conservation issues on that site, but to me it comes from the POV of the National Wildlife Federation which causes me concern.
Defenders of Wildlife Denounces Secretary Norton's Plan to Delist Wolves in Northern Rocky Mountains
Great Conservation Success Story in Jeopardy
By: Defenders of Wildlife
Published: Feb 2, 2006 at 07:50
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The federal government is expected to announce plans to propose to lift endangered species protections for wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains tomorrow. The plans are premature, considering that most of the states responsible for wolf management once delisting occurs either do not have management plans or have plans that will hasten the killing of wolves, said Defenders of Wildlife.
"Americans have made a significant commitment to recovering the wolf over the past 30 years," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife. "Unfortunately, the Bush administration is planning to turn back the clock on wolf recovery by prematurely passing management responsibility to states such as Idaho that has expressed a clear intention of immediately exterminating all of the wolves in the state."
Noting that the Idaho state legislature passed, and Gov. Kempthorne signed, a 2001 memorial calling for the eradication of wolves in Idaho "by any means necessary," Defenders said handing over wolf management duties to the state could be giving Idaho a license to kill wolves. Compounding these concerns is a ballot initiative sponsored by the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition that would remove wolves from the state of Idaho by whatever means necessary. In addition, the ballot measure would mandate all state agencies to discontinue all wolf recovery efforts in the state, list wolves as an unprotected predator, close the governor's Office of Species Conservation and rescind approval of the Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.
"It is clear that the anti-wolf forces in Idaho are still threatening to use any means possible to eradicate wolves from the state," said Clark. "This would be a very unhappy ending to a great conservation success story. Under these circumstances, it is inappropriate for the federal government to consider proposing to delist wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains at this time."
Defenders of Wildlife supports turning over wolf management to the states once the populations reach sustainable recovery levels. But those states need to have management plans that will continue to maintain wolf populations in a responsible manner. To date, only Montana and Oregon have management plans that will accomplish this, but there are no known wolf populations in Oregon at this time. Other states, including Wyoming, Utah and Washington do not have adequate conservation management plans in place.
"If the government does delist the wolves in the Rocky Mountains, it will be the state's responsibility to manage them effectively so that they do not decline to the point where re-listing is necessary," said Clark. "At this point, of the states with wolves, only Montana is ready to accept this responsibility."
Defenders of Wildlife is recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 490,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on endangered species issues.
