A
group of conservation organizations has successfully overturned a key policy that was harming Mexican gray wolves in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area. Known as "SOP 13" this standing operating procedure meant that wolves were subjected to a "three strikes" rule- if they were responsible for three confirmed livestock kills, they were permanently (and often, fatally) removed from the wild. No more! Now, the agency will consider the genetic value, nature of the conflict, and the recovery goals of the ESA before arbitrary actions.
SOP 13 was the wet-dream of
Adaptive
Management
Oversight
Committee (a.k.a. 'amok') whose motto seemed to be, "We'll adapt to whatever the cowboys want, and urge the Fish and Wildlife Service to do our bidding.
For several years, the Mexican Wolf Adaptive Management Oversight Committee, also known as AMOC, had called the shots on whether or not a wolf would stay in the wild. AMOC was organized to bring other agencies to the table, but the Fish and Wildlife Service – in an unusual move – had ceded control of the Mexican gray wolf’s reintroduction to the committee.
Under AMOC’s direction, the Mexican gray-wolf recovery effort became less about helping this endangered wolf return to its home range and more about wolf control and appeasing anti-wolf interests in the recovery area. (Via.)
The new settlement means that the
Feds are going to regain control of the program- and not a moment too soon. AZ Game and Fish Department was quick to
defend it's little cabal:
In its role as the state’s wildlife management authority, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has a vested interest in continuing its participation and leadership in Mexican wolf conservation.
...
The department advocates that Mexican wolf management decisions will continue to be based on sound science and to provide opportunities for participation by local and tribal governments, nongovernmental organizations and individuals from all segments of the public.
...
The department believes that the development of a mechanism for addressing financial impacts of wolf depredation on private interests is an important step in addressing long-standing social challenges associated with wolf recovery and may in fact be a crucial component in ensuring that the program moves forward in full compliance with the impacts and management commitments identified in the original (1996) environmental impact statement and final 1998 rule on Mexican wolf reintroduction.
...
The department’s endangered species coordinator, Terry Johnson, currently chairs the Mexican Wolf Adaptive Management Oversight Committee (AMOC).
[Is that the same Terry Johnson who
doesn't seem to want to recover jaguars in Arizona either? Hmmm....]
And the livestock industry tried to spin the news of their little bursting bubble this way:
Laura Schneburger of the Gila Livestock Growers Association said in a written statement that she hopes the settlement means the service will become stricter in its handling of problem wolves.
"It is our hope that the Fish and Wildlife Service will comply with the original recovery rule that requires removal of wolves that are defined as problem wolves under that rule. Failure to follow the rule has allowed problem wolf behavior to become pack behavior under SOP 13 management," she wrote.
As we've said before, there are no problem wolves. Just problematic, outdated, ecologically damaging, extractive land uses which- if they can't coexist with native species- should get the fuck off our forests.
Take the money and run.
And don't let the door hit you in the ass.
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