Group alleges political meddling in wolf program

The effort to return the Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest has been fraught with legal disputes, illegal shootings, livestock deaths and emotion. Now a watchdog group is questioning the integrity of key scientific findings related to the endangered animal's recovery. Public Employees of Environmental Responsibility filed a complaint this week with the U.S. Department of Interior, alleging that the number of wolves required for recovery have been altered due to political meddling. The group also contends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suspended recovery planning in May in response to political pressure that followed the release of confidential documents to politicians and advocacy groups and concerns voiced by officials in Utah and Colorado about expanding the wolf recovery area to their states. Jeff Ruch, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based group, called the science behind Mexican gray wolf recovery a "political football." "The time for political negotiation comes after the scientific work is done," Ruch said. "In this instance, Obama officials are attempting to improperly pre-negotiate the science to accommodate political partners."...more

And this from the PEER press release

In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) concluded that the Mexican wolf “is not thriving” due to lack of an up-to-date management plan, illegal shooting; and genetic inbreeding. The cumulative impacts of these factors “threaten the population with failure.” The agency then convened eight experts to serve on a special Science and Planning Subgroup of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Team. Through the next two years, this scientific subgroup unanimously concluded that Mexican wolf recovery required three populations of 200-350 wolves connected by corridors. They also found the best suitable habitat for reintroduction included southern Colorado and southern Utah. The political pushback within the FWS and from affected states against these scientific findings has been unrelenting, including –

Pressure to lower the number of wolves needed or jettison a numeric threshold altogether, as in this FWS email to the scientists (“he” refers to the Southwest Regional Director):

“You should not feel undo [sic] pressure at this point to accommodate, per se, but you should recognize that this is his way of telling you (at least at this point) what information he would like to see.”

Demands to exclude Utah and other states from suitable habitat; and

Attempts to prevent the science subgroup from issuing final Mexican wolf recovery criteria.

No doubt the USFWS is looking at this for expanding the recovery area: