Howling for Wolves

WildEarth Guardians is working hard for wolves on the western landscape by advocating legal protections for wolves on the ground, pressing for prompt wolf reintroduction, and protecting the wild places that wolves need.

Vision

WildEarth Guardians believes that wolves need the wild, and the wild needs wolves.

We believe wolves should be allowed to work their ecological magic, in numbers sufficient to keep elk and deer alert and moving in a more natural fashion and for native ecosystems to feel the ripple effect of a top predator restored to former glory.

Strategies

• In the Southwest, Guardians has taken a series of actions to improve the Mexican wolf’s status under the Endangered Species Act and to press for more Mexican wolf releases into the wild.

• In New Mexico, Guardians is advocating leghold traps be outlawed on public lands. Since 1998, 14 Mexican wolves in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area have been caught in indiscriminate and inhumane traps set by private trappers.

• In the Northern Rockies, Guardians has challenged plans to strip away legal protections for wolves. Guardians has also challenged individual wolf-killing plans.

• In the Southern Rockies, Guardians is pressing for the return of the wolf, through reintroduction and safeguards for wolf habitat.

• Guardians advocates voluntary grazing permit retirement as a way to reduce conflicts with wolves and better ensure their recovery.

Accomplishments

• In February 2012, Guardians helped convince the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks commission not to extend a wolf-hunting season in the West Fork of the Bitterroot.

• In April 2011, Guardians secured a legal settlement on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico that requires the Forest Service to more carefully consider the needs of wolves in key areas.

• In August 2010, Guardians successfully compelled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider listing the Mexican wolf separately from the gray wolf. The change could provide increased protections for the Mexican wolf and a sharper focus on its recovery.

How you can help

One of the most powerful forces in the wolf’s corner is the American public. Time and time again, public opinion has heartily supported the return and protection of this iconic creature.  Write a letter to the editor in support of wolves, tell the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban trapping in the range of lobos in New Mexico, and advocate to release more captive lobos back into the wild.

photo credit: Gray Wolf: Ray Rafiti