SCB Recommends Six Steps for Nation-wide Wolf Recovery
July 5, 2011. In May 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its intent to develop a "National Wolf Strateg" to guide the recovery of wolves in the United States. SCB is submitting formal comments on this proposal, which although laudable in its stated goal, appears to lack logical coherence and scientific rigor, particularly in its treatment of outstanding genetic and taxonomic issues. SCB notes that the delisting of individual ‘species’ (listed wolf-entitites) should be made in the context of specific recovery plans or delisting proposals, rather than a general status review and taxonomic revision, so that the logical decision process required by the ESA, and expert participation therein, can take effect as intended in the Act. Because of the contentious history of wolf recovery policy and the lack of transparency in the SDM process that led to development of the National Wolf Strategy, SCB recommends that National Wolf Strategy be subject to rigorous peer review by independent scientists. This is especially important because further recovery efforts at the DPS or subspecies level will be tiered to the national Strategy, and thus inherit any uncertainty concerning the scientific basis of the Strategy itself.
SCB's comments can be found HERE.