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Two
sample comment letters are provided below: 1) on the Moratorium
and SOP 13 and 2) on the Five-Year Review.
Note that each goes to a different address, and both should
be copied to your Governor.
It
is best to personalize your comments, as agencies give less
consideration to "mass-mailings." For example, tell
them who you are, express personal experiences with the wolves
or wilderness, and indicate why you care enough to write the
letter. The sample comments can be paraphrased. If you are
pressed for time, copying the letters and adding your name
and address at the bottom is better than not writing at all.
If
you have any questions, please contact Sandy Bahr at grand.canyon.chapter@sierraclub.org
or (602) 253-8633 or Halina Szyposzynski at hkubus@yahoo.com.Thank
you!
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SAMPLE
LETTER ON MORATORIUM AND SOP 13
[Date]
Terry
B. Johnson
Endangered Species Coordinator
Arizona Game and Fish Department
2221 West Greenway Road
Phoenix, Arizona 85023
Dear Mr. Johnson:
I am writing to you today to express my outrage and opposition
to the proposals being considered by the Mexican Wolf Blue
Range Reintroduction Project Adaptive Management Oversight
Committee (AMOC) to implement a one-year moratorium on the
release of new wolves in the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area and
also Standard Operating Procedure 13 relating to Control of
Mexican wolves.
These proposals will undercut Mexican wolf recovery and interject
even more politics into a program that has been plagued by
politics - to the detriment of the wolves. There is no scientific
or sound policy reason for implementing the moratorium. I
am concerned that this will prevent infusion of new genetic
material into the population. As you know, this concern has
been expressed by the lead Mexican wolf genetic researcher,
Dr. Philip Hedrick of Arizona State University.
The one-year ban on translocations of wolves that have killed
livestock will exacerbate the detrimental effects of the present
policy that prevents any releases from the captive breeding
population into New Mexico. Should the proposal go into effect,
no wolves captured in Arizona could be released in New Mexico.
This is unacceptable and inconsistent with the program goals.
The SOP calling for the killing of wolves responsible for
attacking three head of livestock if trapping does not succeed
within ten days, and immediate killing of wolves if four domestic
animals have been attacked is also misguided. This will ramp
up the lethality of the present control program which has
already resulted in a twenty percent drop in the known Mexican
wolf population between the end of 2003 and end of 2004 (from
55 to 44 animals). Had this policy been in effect from the
outset of the program, several packs in existence now would
have been destroyed. For example, the Bluestem Pack, which
engaged in a brief spate of livestock killings in 2002 and
have since then relied entirely on natural prey, would have
been captured or killed.
Any one of these measures on its own would hinder the recovery
of the Mexican wolf population. Collectively, these proposals
would greatly aggravate the problems that have resulted in
the decline of the Mexican wolf population during 2004 and
that have prevented the population from reaching demographic
predictions as stated in the Environmental Impact Statement.
Please reject these proposals and do what is best for the
wolves. Thank you for considering my comments.
Sincerely,
[Your
Name]
[Your
Address]
cc: Governor Janet Napolitano, AZ or Governor Bill Richardson,
NM
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SAMPLE
LETTER ON THE FIVE-YEAR REVIEW
[Date]
U.
S. Fish and Wildlife Service
New Mexico Ecological Services Office
2105 Osuna NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87113
Dear U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:
I am writing to comment on the Mexican Gray Wolf Reintroduction
Project Five-Year Review. I would like to see specific rule
changes made which will greatly improve the odds for success
of the wolf reintroduction and recovery effort.
The Mexican gray wolf, despite being the most endangered subspecies
of wolf in the world, faces needless obstacles on its road
to recovery. Many wolves have been killed illegally due to
human intolerance, and current recovery rules are burdened
with political compromises. Wolves are recaptured due to their
inability to recognize artificial boundaries, and for actual
or potential depredation on livestock; many have suffered
injuries and disintegration of pack structure during these
captures and translocations. At least two wolves have been
intentionally killed by the very agency charged with their
protection.
Please work without any further unreasonable delay to obtain
and implement the following rule changes:
o
Allow wolves to establish territories outside of the Blue
Range Wolf Recovery Area (BRWRA). The 5-year review states
that boundary-related removals accounted for 36% of all removals
of wolves from the wild, and that the increasing trend in
such removals is of concern. Changing this aspect of the rule
would have the single largest positive impact on the success
of the wolf recovery effort.
o Allow the Interagency Field Team to release wolves directly
into the Gila National Forest. According to the 5-year review,
"The Gila National Forest makes up 75% of the BRWRA and
contains much of the best wolf habitat. It makes no sense
that only wolves previously removed from the Apache-Sitgreaves
National Forest may currently be released into the Gila.
o Require livestock operators on public land to take some
responsibility for carcass management / disposal to reduce
the likelihood that wolves become habituated to feeding on
livestock.
--This
was a strong recommendation of the Paquet Report, yet has
been almost sidestepped in the current 5-year review.
--The
general public is prohibited from littering on public land.
Public lands permittees should be prohibited from littering
public land with livestock carcasses, which are currently
removed from wolf-occupied areas at taxpayer expense.
In
addition to these rule changes, I believe that the Five-year
review should contain some discussion and recommendations
concerning law enforcement in wolf mortalities. This is a
surprising omission considering the Paquet Report's finding
that "Human-related deaths were the greatest source of
mortality for reintroduced Mexican wolves. Shooting was the
major source of death."
Twenty wolves have been confirmed killed by gunshot since
the reintroduction began in 1998, yet there has been only
one successful prosecution to date. Giving some attention
to this issue in the Five-year review would be helpful in
obtaining needed investigative and enforcement resources.
Please keep me apprised of developments in this area. Thank
you for considering my comments.
Sincerely,
[Your
Name]
[Your Address]
cc:
Governor Janet Napolitano, AZ or Governor Bill Richardson,
NM
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