updated
8/23/00
by Nina Fascione - Defenders of Wildlife
for over 100
years. In the 1992 Recovery Plan for the Eastern Timber Wolf,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified the Adirondack Park
in upstate New York and two areas in New England as possible recovery
sites for the eastern wolf (Canis lupus lycaon). However
numerous landscape barriers, such as the St. Lawrence Seaway and
extensive urban and agricultural lands, and human-caused obstacles,
such as legal hunting of wolves in southeastern Canada, create
a situation where natural recolonization is unlikely, especially
in New York.
In 1995, Defenders of Wildlife initiated a campaign to investigate
the biological and social potential for restoring wolves to New
York. In addition to conducting public education and outreach,
one of the steps Defenders took was to offer to fund a scientific
feasibility study on wolf restoration. Because there was some
strong local resistance to the idea, Defenders worked with Paul
Smith's College of the Adirondacks, a neutral third party, to
create a Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC) on wolf recovery.
The CAC is a diverse group of Adirondack stakeholders who represent
timber, hunting, and recreational industries, as well as landowners,
environmentalists and biologists, among others. Committee members
were asked to develop a list of concerns they feel their constituencies
have about possible wolf recovery and from this list create a
Request for Proposals (RFP) for the study. Once this was accomplished,
Defenders mailed the RFP to over 200 universities and interested
scientists.
Four proposals were received, and the CAC selected two contractors
to begin studies. They hired the Conservation Biology Institute
(CBI) in Corvallis, Oregon to conduct a biological feasibility
study, and Cornell University to investigate the sociological
implications of wolf restoration. In December of 1999, CBI released
its long-awaited study. The complete results can be found at www.consbio.org.
Through their study, the researchers determined that while the
Adirondacks could hold a small population of wolves, there were
questions about the long-term viability of a wolf population due
to regional development. A second concern to the CBI researchers
was the tendency of eastern wolves to hybridize with coyotes,
a problem from which the red wolf program in North Carolina suffers
at present.
Cornell completed and released their study in early 2000. Researchers
polled 422 Adirondack residents and another 501 residents from
throughout the state to ask questions about their attitudes and
beliefs on wolf recovery. They surveyed issues such as views of
potential impacts of wolf recovery and economic benefits. They
found that Adirondack residents are fairly evenly split in their
attitudes towards potential wolf restoration. And, while most
statewide residents hold positive attitudes towards restoration,
they believe that local residents should take much responsibility
for wildlife management decisions affecting the Adirondacks. Cornell
is quick to point out that the survey should not be taken as a
vote for or against wolf restoration, but rather an indication
of how people felt at the time they were polled. The results from
this report can be obtained by calling Defenders.
At present, Defenders and other wolf groups are taking a broad,
regional approach to Northeast wolf restoration. Restoration in
the Adirondacks should be part of a larger wolf restoration effort.
To this end, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing the
development of a recovery plan for the northeast region, and Defenders
is supporting this effort. In July, 2000 Defenders worked with
the U.S. FWS to organize a three and a half day workshop on wolf
restoration in the northeast. The workshop brought together more
than 50 scientists, educators, industry representatives, state
and federal wildlife agency personnel and other stakeholders to
discuss the myriad issues surrounding potential wolf restoration
in the Northeast. It was hopefully the first of many such productive
meetings.
To learn more about wolf recovery in the northeastern U.S.,
contact Defenders of Wildlife at (202) 682-9400 or visit our website
at www.defenders.org.
