Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Rare Alaskan Wolf

The Center for Biological Diversity and Greenpeace notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today of their intent to file suit against the agency for delaying Endangered Species Act protection for the Alexander Archipelago wolf, a rare subspecies of gray wolf found only in the old-growth forests of southeast Alaska. In August 2011 the groups filed a petition to protect the wolves, which are at risk of extinction because of the U.S. Forest Service’s unsustainable logging and road-building practices in the Tongass National Forest. The Service, which was required by the Endangered Species Act to determine whether listing may be warranted within 90 days of the filing, has not yet responded to the petition. “The existence of this unique wolf is imperiled by ongoing old-growth logging that adds to the high loss of quality wildlife habitat, which has occurred across all land ownerships in the forests of southeast Alaska over the past six decades,” said Greenpeace forest campaigner Larry Edwards. “The ongoing logging is further reducing and fragmenting forest habitat, to the detriment of the wolf and its deer prey.” Logging on the Tongass also brings new roads, making wolves vulnerable to hunting and trapping...more

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