Once considered as endangered as the species itself,
the proposal to restore Mexican gray wolves to the Southwest now
appears to be back on track. After the U.S Fish and Wildlife
Service released its final environmental analysis on the
reintroduction of “el lobo” Dec. 27, biologists moved 10 of 149
captive Mexican wolves to New Mexico. If Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt approves the plan as expected, the wolves and their
offspring should be released early this fall.
The federal plan calls for reestablishing a
viable wolf population of at least 100 animals in Arizona’s Apache
National Forest and the adjacent Gila National Forest in New
Mexico.
Most environmentalists were pleased.
“Despite more than a decade of stalling, the Fish and Wildlife
Service has made the right recommendation,” said Roger
Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of
Wildife.
Some wolf advocates, however, would like
recovery efforts expanded to include portions of the White Sands
Missile Range in New Mexico, plus several sites along the
Texas-Mexico border. Others have criticized the wolves’
classification as “nonessential experimental,” which allows
ranchers to shoot wolves caught killing
livestock.
To get a copy of the final plan or to
comment before Jan. 27, contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service’s Southwest Regional Office at 505/248-6911. For general
information, call the Defenders of Wildlife Southwest Office at
502/578-9334.
*John
Rosapepe
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline El Lobo to return.
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