TerynItUp
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LAST EDITED ON Aug-02-17 AT 11:26AM (MST)[p]Reading Hank's comments about wolves on the rain tracker thread reminded me of something I wanted to share with you all that live in wolf country.
I was listening to the Meateater Podcast this weekend and Steve Rinella was chatting with John Oakleaf of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Vicente Ordonez who is the the FS liaison to the Mexican Wolf Project, and Karl Malcom of the Forest Service.
I was very surprised to hear some future plans that are in place for the Wolf Project. Originally, the Fish and Wildlife set a population objective goal at 100 wolves. Currently in the reintroduction zone, there is a population of Mexican Grey wolves that floats and hovers right around 110 wolves. Many folks assume that now that the population has reached and surpassed the goal of 100 wolves means that they could be de-listed from ESA protection. However, in this podcast, John Oakleaf states that is incorrect and that the 100 number was just a number that was thrown out as an interim goal and had nothing to do with de-listing or what they would consider a state of recovery.
John stated that a recovery population has yet to be officially defined but will likely be around 325 wolves. I doubt that NM residents are aware that there are plans for this population to increase by another 210 wolves. This will probably garner some negativity as most are not a fan on the project to begin with, but they do give insight into actual numbers of elk killed by wolves vs. total elk population and their reasoning for the numbers.
If you are interested in listening to the Podcast it can be found here:
http://www.themeateater.com/podcasts/ep-074-gray-wolves/
They discuss the population numbers around the 55:30 mark.
Hunt Hard. Shoot Straight. Kill Clean. Apologize to No One.
I was listening to the Meateater Podcast this weekend and Steve Rinella was chatting with John Oakleaf of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Vicente Ordonez who is the the FS liaison to the Mexican Wolf Project, and Karl Malcom of the Forest Service.
I was very surprised to hear some future plans that are in place for the Wolf Project. Originally, the Fish and Wildlife set a population objective goal at 100 wolves. Currently in the reintroduction zone, there is a population of Mexican Grey wolves that floats and hovers right around 110 wolves. Many folks assume that now that the population has reached and surpassed the goal of 100 wolves means that they could be de-listed from ESA protection. However, in this podcast, John Oakleaf states that is incorrect and that the 100 number was just a number that was thrown out as an interim goal and had nothing to do with de-listing or what they would consider a state of recovery.
John stated that a recovery population has yet to be officially defined but will likely be around 325 wolves. I doubt that NM residents are aware that there are plans for this population to increase by another 210 wolves. This will probably garner some negativity as most are not a fan on the project to begin with, but they do give insight into actual numbers of elk killed by wolves vs. total elk population and their reasoning for the numbers.
If you are interested in listening to the Podcast it can be found here:
http://www.themeateater.com/podcasts/ep-074-gray-wolves/
They discuss the population numbers around the 55:30 mark.
Hunt Hard. Shoot Straight. Kill Clean. Apologize to No One.