Wolves without Boundaries

Now that is a good motto, if I've ever heard one. It belongs to the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, whom I just discovered serendipitously through the Fugly Horse of the Day blog.
Much as we've seen in Yellowstone and other prime wolf habitat, it came to the attention of people (as always, a little late) that wolves in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona were a keystone to the health of the natural environment. Wolves were killed both to protect the natural prey animals, thought to be helpless and 'harmless', and to protect the interests of stockmen who later moved through the region. The government actually hired hunters solely to shoot wolves, mountain lions, and other predators. As the GCWRP states on their website "The exterminators did not understand and, therefore, gave no regard to the important role predators play in nature." Now days we have a much better understanding of the role apex predators like wolves and mountain lions play in balancing nature. With the extermination of these key species, the deer numbers skyrocketted. Without predators to keep them in check, the prey animal populations become weakened, animals die of disease and starvation, and often overfeed on their habitat, causing long term habitat destruction.
In 1999 Mexican Wolves were reintroduces into the Blue Range region of eastern Arizona, a critical first step in wolf recovery. However, unnatural territory boundaries continue to keep wolves from prospering as well as they should. Just as in Montana and Wyoming wolves can be shot for leaving designated recovery areas, wolves in Arizona are trapped and taken back to the Blue Range, essentially killing any hope of creating sustainable, genetically diverse wolf populations.
But the GCWRP seeks to tell us all hope is not lost. They cite that "The Grand Canyon Ecoregion has been identified by wildlife ecologists as offering extraordinary habitat for wolf recovery. The region contains vast expanses of undeveloped land in national parks, monuments, and forests, and contains ample food for wolves. Scientific research indicates that this region, extending from the Mogollon Rim all the way up to the high plateaus of southern Utah, can sustain at least 200 wolves."
So why don't we all give our wolves a chance to flourish and live without borders?

Wolf Forum, Dec. 3

This article says it nicely, so I won't try to splice an argument together...forgive me if I copy/paste.
From the Alamagordo Daily News:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will present a public meeting on the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program Monday, Dec. 3, at the Tays Center from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The program is about a long-debated issue that has raised concerns among ranchers and farmers, while winning support among environmental groups.
"It's important to me, as an environmentalist, to have wolves as a valuable and necessary part of our ecosystem," animal advocate Steven Diehl said in an interview Wednesday. "They are not a threat to humans and they are not an economic detriment to anyone at least not the southwestern sub-species. Any ranchers that have livestock taken by wolves are reimbursed by Defenders of Wildlife for the full market value of their losses."
Diehl said if ranchers modify their livestock husbandry practices, they can greatly reduce depredation.
"It's less than one percent depredation as it stands," he said. "It would be even less with such a modification."
Diehl thinks part of the problem is a land use issue.
"It's not an economic problem," he said. "And it's not a danger issue, as there has never been even one authenticated case of a wolf ever killing a person in the wild in North America. So it has to be something else."

Click the link to read the rest of the article.

My uncle lives in Alamagordo. Lovely place.