Right now, the Secretary of the Interior is deciding whether gray wolves and Mexican wolves should lose their Endangered Species Act protections. A September 4 executive order gave Secretary Doug Burgum 90 days to rule on whether wolves have “met recovery criteria.” That decision is due in early December.
But the question of how many wolves there are isn’t the only one to ask. To protect endangered wolves, we also need to know whether they have the connected habitat, safe corridors, and freedom to disperse, meet mates, and develop genetic resilience. Real recovery requires all that and more. But today, wolves occupy only a small fraction of their historic range. Across much of the West, the lines on a map don’t match the paths wolves actually need to travel, and a wolf can walk from protection into a kill zone without knowing it.
This comes as the administration has attempted to rescind the ESA’s definition of “harm,” which has protected wildlife habitat for nearly 50 years. Stripping wolves of federal protection now would take away both their protection and their habitats.
Tell Secretary Burgum: recovery means room to recover. Keep wolves protected.
