The Mexican wolf has many strikes against is restoration. The was allowed to become extinct in the wild, so every sucessfully “rewilded” wolf is very valuable. It’s territory has been artificially limited to “the box,” a relatively small area bestride the Arizona-New Mexico border. It’s restoration area, some of which is designated wilderness, is mostly full of cattle, many of them poorly attended to with dead cows allowed to fester and attract scavengers, including wolves.
Wild Again has a disturbing article how the US Forest Service is rubberstamping grazing permits on the Gila National Forest. Well, In the midst of New Mexico’s Wolf Awareness Week, Forest Guardians and Sinapu filed suit in federal district court . . . to overturn all decisions in which the Forest Service allowed livestock grazing on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico without public participation or consideration of impacts to endangered species.
Full Story at Wild Again (Sinapu)
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
This is good news. I wonder if legal language could be established that cows are actually an exotic, invasive species.
Of course they are rubber stamping grazing permits….the Bush admin. tries to keep environmental organizations scrambling on as many fronts as possible (the same way they are doing Al Queda). Do people think Iraq and Afghanistan are the only enemies of this aministration? Scientific principle, environmentalists, alternative energy, public education, the middle class, minorities, small businesses, and common sense are all enemies to the Bush Administration. And no, I’m not a Democrat–just a good observer.