The wolf impact will not be just 2 states, but 6 states, see attached map. If I lived in any rural area of any of the additional 4 states, I would start being concerned and get involved. Act Now! US Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes to Expand Mexican Wolves With No Upper Limit and Too Few Provisions to Protect Ranchers! Speak out against draft plan to allow an unlimited number of wolves in Arizona and New Mexico! The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has released a draft proposal to change the rules governing the Mexican wolf reintroduction. See fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/NEPA_713.cfm The draft proposal, if implemented, will seriously jeopardize the continued existence of ranching in the west. Mexican gray wolves, who currently number almost 90 in the wild, would be allowed to increase exponentially, with no upper limit. The proposal ignores the best available science and recommendations by state game and fish scientists. � USFWS proposes to allow an unlimited upper number of Mexican wolves to be released including on private land, with agreements from willing landowners. � The proposal continues to ignore the rights of the states, counties, other local governments, livestock producers/private landowners to protect people and animals. � And, the proposal is a classic example of an illegal piecemeal approach to NEPA that dramatically expands the area wolves can roam, potentially allowing them to get to parts of New Mexico and Arizona north of I-40, where environmental extremists and some USFWS biologists say that populations of Mexican wolves are essential to the wolfs’ recovery. USFWS has released this draft proposal with a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) PLEASE ACT NOW TO MAKE SURE THAT CHANGES TO HELP RANCHERS ARE INCLUDED IN THE FINAL RULE Here are some of the ways you can help: SUBMIT COMMENTS Submit comments on the draft proposal before 9/23/14 and include these specific talking points in addition to your personalized message: Submit your comments electronically here: regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FWS-R2-ES-2013-0056-6056 Or by U.S. mail or hand delivery to: Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R2–ES–2013– 0056; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–3803. STATE THAT YOU WANT USFWS TO ELIMINATE THE MEXICAN WOLF RECOVERY EFFORT DUE TO GENETIC IMPURITIES AND THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF NATIVE WILD UN-HYBRIDIZED WOLVES IN MEXICO. ALSO, STATE THAT IF THE USFWS DOES NOT ELIMINATE THE RECOVERY EFFORT ,THEY SHOULD AT LEAST CHOOSE THE COOPERATING AGENCIES ALTERNATIVE TO THE USFWS DRAFT EIS ALTERNATIVES FOR REVISION OF THE 1998 MEXICAN WOLF NONESSENTIAL EXPERIMENTAL POPULATION RULE (SUBMITTED TO USFWS ON April 15, 2014) In WHOLE OR IN PART. In all the wolf 10J documents the Cooperating Agencies Alternative is the only document that gives the ranches, the people the right to protect themselves and their property. 1. The information in the Cooperating Agencies Alternative (CAA) includes elements of the AGFD Mexican Wolf Management Plan for Non-Tribal Lands in Arizona (AGFD in prep.). 2. The CAA limits Mexican wolves to historical habitat in AZ-NM that significantly contributes to conservation of the species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Toward the end, the CAA defines the Mexican wolf population objective as being no more than 300 wolves across both States, with a range of 100 to 150 wolves for each State. (NOTE: You can support the CAA except define your own Mexican wolf population objective such as zero wolves in the USA and 300 wolves in Mexico; or up to 100 Mexican wolves in the USA (per the current Recovery Plan; or zero Mexican wolves anywhere due to genetic impurity; or zero Mexican wolves in the wild and up to 300 Mexican wolves in captivity; or any other population parameter you choose). 3. The CAA enables willing States and Tribes to become the on-the-ground managers of Mexican wolves. The authorities for USFWS to do this with States are vested in Section 6 of the ESA and the authorities for USFWS to do this with Tribes are vested in laws providing Sovereign Nation status for Tribes. The States and Tribes are better able to manage wolves because they also have responsibility for the wolves prey (elk, deer, etc). The CAA also provides a mechanism by which USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services can become responsible for on-the-ground response to depredations, including control of problem wolves, in cooperation with willing States and Tribes. This will expedite aid to ranchers that when wolves are killing or threatening people, livestock or pets. 4. The CAA reaffirms that Tribes are responsible for deciding whether and how to cooperate with USFWS on Mexican wolf conservation. However, it also provides certainty that wolves on Tribal Reservations will count toward statewide population objectives for the AZ-NM Mexican wolf population. 5. The CAA reaffirms that historical range of the Mexican wolf includes the area from northwestern Mexico through east-central Arizona and west central New Mexico and it does not extend north of Interstate 40 in either state or into Colorado or Utah. 6. The CAA defines three Mexican wolf management zones within the Experimental Population Area (i.e. the MWEPA, the entire States of AZ and NM) that will enable willing States and Tribes to ensure that the Mexican wolf is managed to stay within the defined population objective: a. The core area (the Blue Range Mexican Wolf Recovery Area [BRMWRA], expanded in NM), in which cooperating agencies will maximize efforts to reestablish and maintain the Mexican wolf. Releases, translocations and depredation control are major elements of this zone. Translocations from this zone will be used to ensure that Apache, Navajo, Greenlee and Catron counties do not bear an unreasonable portion of the density-related impacts that wolves can cause. b. An area (MWMA) contiguous with the expanded BRMWRA that extends to the International Border on the south and which is bounded by highways in Central AZ on the West and in Central NM on the East. In this zone, occupancy by natural or assisted dispersal (i.e. translocations) will be allowed but releases of wolves will be limited to those necessary to address genetic diversity problems in the wild population. Depredation controls in this zone are the same as in the BRMWRA. This zone also provides an area for wolf dispersal from and to Mexico, thus protecting against wolves from Mexico dispersing north and gaining full protection of the ESA. c. The remainder of the MWEPA, which consists of western AZ and eastern NM and the northern parts of both States. In this zone, wolf presence will not be tolerated. All wolves that reach this zone will be removed to captivity, translocated into the BRMWRA or the AZMWMA or euthanized. 7. The CAA defines all significant terms used in the draft Alternative, to ensure consistency throughout the document. 8. The CAA addresses the issue of take of Mexican wolves (capture, removal, harm, harass, etc.). It provides reasonable flexibility for agencies to make decisions about when and how to make take decisions but it also provides much more certainty for stakeholders that the States and Tribes can and will make appropriate decisions in reasonable timeframes. This element of the rule ensures that consistent depredators will be removed expeditiously, that stakeholders will be issued take permits themselves when the population is sufficient to allow that action and it creates a threshold for States and Tribes to determine that wolves are having unacceptable impacts on wild native ungulates (i.e. deer and elk). This element also reaffirms the ESA element that enables take of wolves in protection of human life. 9. The CAA establishes requirements for reporting take of Mexican wolves. 10. The CAA identifies the restrictions on Mexican wolf occupancy of private lands, Tribal Reservations and Public or State Wildlife Agency managed lands. 11. The CAA affirms that all wolves found outside the MWEPA shall be considered unprotected gray wolves that may be taken as allowed by State or Tribal regulation. 12. The CAA establishes a 3-year cycle for USFWS evaluation of State and Tribal (and USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services) progress under their approved Mexican Wolf Management Plans. It also enables cooperating agencies to respond to the USFWS evaluation in a reasonable time. 13. The CAA states that USFWS does not intend to change the non-essential experimental population status of the Mexican wolf in the foreseeable future but also acknowledges that litigation under the ESA could be used to force consideration of change. The Alternative also reaffirms that USFWS will not designate critical habitat within the MWEPA. It also identifies causes for the States and Tribes to force revocation of the non-essential experimental population rule and reinstatement of the 1998 the non-essential experimental population rule, reduction of the non-essential experimental population number to 100 to 125 Mexican wolves in AZ-NM and USFWS coverage of all State and Tribal costs in reducing the non-essential experimental population to 100-125 wolves. 14. In summary, the CAA is in compliance with the ESA because it protects Mexican wolves but it also provides an improved framework for protection of stakeholder interests in other uses of private and public lands that is far superior to, and far more reliable than, the 1998 non-essential experimental population rule. Coupled with the AGFD Mexican Wolf Management Plan (in prep.), this Alternative will also provide opportunities for counties and local stakeholders to engage with the States in wolf management in periodic public forums. The counties will, if willing, conduct public meetings at which planned releases and translocations will be proposed and evaluated before the State makes a decision about whether, when and how to conduct the planned release or translocation. CONTACT ELECTED OFFICIALS Ask your elected officials to weigh in. The message to protect our rights will be best received when delivered respectfully and with a focus on evidence and science. To find contact info for your US representative go to: house.gov/representatives/find/ To find contact info for your US Senator go to: senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm SPREAD THE WORD Ask everyone you know to act before it’s too late. Please forward this email to your networks. Please act today. Suspense for comments is September 23, 2014.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 21:36:06 +0000