Washington wolf plan talking points

Choose from the talking point themes below to create your own personal statement for the public comment, but please try to include the key points in bold.  Please also submit written or emailed comments to the Department of Fish and Wildlife that include all of the below points—comments can be made through an online portal or sent directly via email to SEPAdesk@dfw.wa.gov. Comments may also be mailed or faxed. Visit WDFW website for address and fax number. The comment period is open until January 8, 2010.

• Share a brief personal account of your interest in or connection to wolves and other wildlife and the healthy ecosystems top predators like the wolf help maintain. You can also tie in how wolf recovery relates to or benefits activities you enjoy in WA, like bird and wildlife watching, hiking, and hunting.
• I appreciate the collaborative approach pursued by the Wolf Working Group. Clearly, there are strong opinions on both sides of the issue, but a practical, science-based approach will in the long run, see the greatest amount of support from the greatest number of Washington citizens.
• We made mistakes in the past by almost wiping out many kinds of important wildlife in the West, including the wolf, and now we are learning just how important they are to maintaining a healthy, functioning balance of predator and prey in the wild. We have the responsibility to restore wolves and find ways to live with them in  their native lands here in Washington.
• Wolves have had a tremendous benefit to other wildlife and plant communities in Yellowstone National Park and elsewhere where they've been recovered, and a healthy wolf population in Washington will have benefits to our natural heritage here as well.
• I support Alternative 3 in the plan because it provides the highest likelihood that wolves will be fully recovered in Washington State.
• A significant number of scientist reviewers believe that the department's numbers (15 breeding pairs) for delisting are low, especially since the plan relies on natural migration from areas outside the state for recovery. The Department should increase the number of established breeding pairs before a delisting is proposed or provide a stronger evaluation of what measures can be taken to ensure that wolves will be able to move safely from northeast Washington to the Cascades.
• Many scientists now agree that the original population goals for wolf recovery in the Northern Rockies were too low and would put wolves there at a higher risk of inbreeding, disease, and future extinction. This miscalculation is behind much of the controversy over federal delisting of wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. We don't want to make the same mistake in Washington—our wolf plan and recovery objectives need to be based on the latest science.
  The final plan should include separate population recovery objectives for the Olympic Peninsula, where high quality wolf habitat and public support justify it having its own recovery objectives.
• The Department needs to eliminate the reckless "caught in the act" killing provision for livestock owners at the endangered and threatened phases of recovery. Given the history of poaching in this state and the high potential for misuse, this provision could drag on recovery efforts and eventual delisting. Investing in non-lethal deterrent methods and providing livestock owners with a fair compensation package are more effective approaches at the early stages of wolf recovery.
• Translocation of wolves from areas of Washington where there is a healthy population to the southern Cascades and Olympics is a proactive method that should be used to speed up recovery and delisting.
• In addition to the ecological benefits of wolf recovery, there are potential economic benefits of the wolf's return. A study at the University of Montana found that gateway communities of Yellowstone have received over $70 million from wolf-related tourism. An entire cottage industry was created around wolves and this may be possible in parts of Washington as well.
• According to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Idaho Fish and Game, deer and elk populations are still doing well in most areas despite wolf recovery in the Northern Rockies. In some places where there are more wolves, hunters have had to change their tactics, but overall, hunter success continues to be high in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Wolves typically target the weakest, easiest prey and leave behind the strongest animals to reproduce. We can have a healthy population of wolves and great hunting here in Washington.
• Recent research shows elk and deer behave very differently with wolves back as a top predator. They become much more secretive, elusive, and are in a head up high alert condition more frequently. They become less complacent, harder to see and more challenging to hunt, but this does not mean there are necessarily less elk or deer in an area. Hunters are conservationists and should welcome a slightly more challenging deer or elk hunt in return for a more balanced ecosystem as a result of the return of wolves.

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