The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will eliminate its current population cap on Mexican wolves in the Southwest.
The preferred alternative, Alternative One, will implement the following:
• Remove the population limit from the 2015 10(j) rule, which allows a maximum of 300-325 Mexican wolves in the experiment area.
• Increase the number of captive Mexican wolf releases, with the goal of 22 released wolves surviving to breeding age by 2030.
• Restrict three forms of allowable take until genetic diversity goals are reached. This includes take on nonfederal land in conjunction with a removal action, take on federal land, and take in response to an unacceptable impact on a wild ungulate herd In addition, the agency will increase the number of captive Mexican wolf releases and restrict forms of allowable take in an unacceptable impact on a wild ungulate herd.
Removing the population limit will align the population objective with the recovery criteria for the Mexican wolf, USFWS said, which is an eight-year rolling average of at least 320 Mexican wolves and greater than 320 wolves in the last three years of the eight-year period. The agency estimates there are at least 196 Mexican wolves in the wild as of 2021. The wild population increased by 5 percent in 2021, although population growth was lower than hoped.
No comments:
Post a Comment