State is wrong to support wolf recovery deal

IT’S DISAPPOINTING to read the Aug. 24 article, “NM Game Commission Votes to Support Federal Wolf Recovery Plan,” because the plan is not adequate to support the long-term persistence of the lobo and its functional role in the ecosystems of New Mexico and the Southwest.

The recovery plan calls for a total population about half the size it should be, according to the best available science. It also fails to promote recovery in key protected areas, such as the southern Rockies and the Grand Canyon — areas that could support sizable lobo populations.

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has experience with recovery efforts for species that, like the Mexican gray wolf, have gone through a “genetic bottleneck” due to their populations having been reduced to a minuscule number of individual animals. FWS should take a hard look at this issue and use its expertise and resources to ensure a robust recovery plan that provides for a larger population, with more frequent releases of captive-bred animals, in light of the limited genetic variability within the population. Failing to do so would leave the wolf in a fragile, highly vulnerable position over the coming decades.

Moreover, if FWS is going to rely on wolves in Mexico to meet its recovery goals, in addition to evaluating the adequacy of habitat available to wolves in Mexico, it should also account for the potential construction of a border wall. This literal barrier to the commingling of Mexican and U.S. wolf populations would create two isolated subpopulations and could undermine wolf recovery efforts . ... ROBERT JERNIGAN Santa Fe