Fellow Supporters of Pacific West Wolf Recovery,

Happy New Year! During 2015, you raised your voice in support of wolf recovery, you stayed involved and engaged, and you shared your generosity. We are so grateful.

Wolf recovery is not a short term project, nor is it an easy one. This iconic species of wilderness continues to be a misunderstood and controversial species that requires more and more coordinated efforts in order to ensure its long-term recovery. It’s important we highlight both the challenges and setbacks and how we’ve overcome them. It’s just as important to highlight our successes and exciting news. Take a look:

Challenges and Setbacks:

A significant setback we all faced last month despite the Coalition’s relentless efforts was the November decision by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission (Commission) to remove state protections of gray wolves throughout Oregon. Not only did many Pacific Wolf Coalition (PWC) member organizations rally their supporters to submit letters to the Commission asking that they not support a delisting decision, several scientists submitted comments as well and voiced their opposition. Dr. Michael P. Nelson, the Ruth H. Spaniol chair of renewable resources and a professor at Oregon State University wrote, “It is logically indefensible, and contrary to the notion of recovery under the Endangered Species Act, to suggest that wolves are in some way recovered when they’re still missing from nearly 90 percent of their suitable range in Oregon.” This delisting decision, while difficult to move past, validated the efforts of the Coalition as every member organization in Oregon, California and Washington came together on behalf of this cause.

Successes and Exciting News:

We are happy to share that because of our ability to work together toward a common goal, we prevented a number of policy riders from being included in and voted on during the recent Omnibus funding bill process. This would have ultimately threatened the ESA (Endangered Species Act), which would have resulted in many wildlife species losing their federal protection. Our ability to target our goals and rally the scientific community to share their scientific research resulted in a landmark decision that will maintain protections for wildlife species throughout the U.S. While our similar efforts in Oregon during the delisting decision didn’t result in our favor, what the state of Washington and California learned from this process will only make their future goals and approach stronger. Perhaps this will lead to statewide reform down the road.

Additionally, all three member states: Washington, Oregon and California have growing, yet fledgling wolf populations in great part due to the collective and valiant efforts of our member groups!

What’s Next for 2016?

Our work is far from complete and with a busy 2015, it’s very clear 2016 will be even busier. Here’s some recent news worth noting and following:

Washington -- December 2015: Five conservation organizations (Cascadia Wildlands, WildEarth Guardians, Predator Defense, the Lands Council and the Kettle Range Conservation Group) filed a lawsuit against the federal agency in Washington, Wildlife Services, claiming they violated federal law by not preparing an adequately detailed environmental analysis of the effects of killing wolves that attack livestock in Washington. A federal judge then ruled that Wildlife Services is barred from participating in lethal removal of gray wolves in Washington and rejected an Environmental Assessment (EA) prepared by the agency. Read the full article.
Oregon -- December 2015: Three conservation organizations (Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and the Center for Biological Diversity) filed a legal challenge against the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission that the November decision to delist wolves violated the law by failing to follow best available science by prematurely removing protections before wolves are truly recovered. Read the full article.
California -- January and February 2016: Following the release of the draft CA Wolf Conservation Plan, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife will host/hosted three public informational meetings to discuss components of the plan: Yreka, CA on 1/21, Long Beach, CA on 1/26 and Sacramento, CA on 2/1.

Let Your Voice Be Heard!

1. Read and submit comments on the CA Wolf Conservation Plan. The comment period is open until February 15^th. Click here for helpful information regarding the draft CA Wolf Conservation Plan:

2. Follow and “like” us on Facebook (name: Pacific Wolves) and visit our website: www.pacificwolves.org.

3. Contact your representatives: Write and/or call your local, state and federal representatives to share your concerns and share your support of wolf recovery. Use PWC’s Action Toolkit link for some helpful tips and contact information for state and federal offices.

Thank You

Whether you’re in California, Oregon or Washington or elsewhere, I would encourage you to spend some time researching the efforts of each individual organization that is a member of the Pacific Wolf Coalition to follow their work and spread the word. You are the voice for wolves when they can’t speak on their own behalf. From all of us at the Pacific Wolf Coalition, we appreciate your own commitment and dedication to this cause.

Kind regards,

Lindsay
Coordinator, Pacific Wolf Coalition
coordinator@pacificwolves.org