Latest news with #U.S.FishandWildlife
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Wandering wolf gives birth to a pack of pups
Jun. 4—Asha first captured public imagination when the endangered wolf twice wandered outside the bounds of the wolf recovery area in 2023, but the female Mexican gray wolf just embarked on a new adventure: motherhood. Female Mexican wolf 2754 — nicknamed Asha — gave birth to five pups on May 8, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Asha and her captive-born mate, M1966, are first-time parents. The two were paired at the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility near Socorro in December 2023. "Plans are in place to release the full pack onto private land in New Mexico this summer," the agency said in a statement on social media. The wolf pups are all in good health and Asha had a typical pregnancy and birth. The agency does not know the gender of the pups, as they are minimizing disturbances to the den to maximize Asha's success in raising her first litter. The baby wolves have to be 6 weeks oldbefore getting their first round of vaccinations. Afterward, they will be moved to an acclimation pen, then released into the wild when elk are calving in the area to encourage the wolves' natural hunting behavior, according to Fish and Wildlife. The details of their release later this month are still being finalized, although the initial 2025 release and translocation proposal suggests placing the family on the Ladder Ranch, managed by Turner Enterprises, which focuses on ecotourism and conservation. While wild-born Asha has a history of roaming north, she also had no documented conflicts with humans or cattle, according to the proposal. That experience as a wild wolf should reduce the risk of her pack killing livestock. But if the pack relocates to an area with livestock and her mate causes trouble, Fish and Wildlife is prepared to recapture him and place him back into captivity, according to the proposal. 17 foster pups placed Asha's pups aren't the only endangered baby wolves moving out. U.S. Fish and Wildlife placed 17 captive-born Mexican wolf pups in wild dens this year, Arizona Game and Fish Department announced Monday. Six pups were placed in one Arizona den, and 11 were placed in three New Mexico dens. Nine of those wolves were also born at Sevilleta. Although the government agencies working on Mexican wolf recovery previously released wolf family units semi-regularly from 1998 to 2006, and relocated a pack onto the Ladder Ranch in 2021, pack releases aren't typical these days. Instead, they usually place pups under 2 weeks old in wild wolf dens with similarly aged wild wolf pups, so the captive-born baby wolves can learn the hunting and socialization skills they need to survive in the wild. Fish and Wildlife originally released adult wolves with their offspring from captivity for the sake of establishing a wild population and increasing the wolf population. But fostering captive-born pups is the strategy now that the wild population is larger, because it improves genetic diversity and eliminates nuisance behavior captive-born adult wolves exhibit, according to the proposal. "Meeting the genetic recovery goals as outlined in the 2022 Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan is essential," Clay Crowder, assistant director of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said in a statement. "The fostering program is achieving these goals faster than was predicted, with 21 of the 22 required fosters having reached breeding age. Also of note from the foster program is that we now have at least 13 fosters having produced 31 litters, all of which are important to contributing to the genetic health of the wild population. With these successes, we are approaching the criteria to begin evaluating potential downlisting of Mexican wolves." Environmental activist groups have long advocated for releasing bonded adult pairs with their pups — a wolf pack — instead of only fostering captive-born wolf pups, and have argued that pack releases are avoided in deference to the livestock industry. "If we look at the longer-term goals of the cross-foster program, which is to increase genetic diversity in the entire wild lobo population, it's imperative that the wolves survive to breeding age and then go on to breed, so that those genes are permitted to continue in the wild population and increase the genetic diversity and make the lobos more genetically resilient moving forward," said Leia Barnett, Greater Gila New Mexico Advocate with WildEarth Guardians. Since the fostering program began in 2014, Fish and Wildlife has identified 30 out of 110 fostered pups that survived their first year. Four of the surviving fosters were born in the wild and 26 were born in captivity.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A rare desert songbird sounds 'red alert' for endangered bird species in Arizona
Arizona's desert birds are in decline, according to a national conservation report tracking long-term bird populations, prompting one conservation group to ask the federal government to take action on behalf of a quickly disappearing, rare songbird. The Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Bendire's thrasher under the Endangered Species Act. The Bendire's thrasher is one of the nation's fastest declining birds, according to the petition, losing almost 90% of its population over the past 50 years. Over half of the species' population lives in Arizona, where threats like urban sprawl and climate change have caused significant habitat loss. The call to list the Benshire's thrasher reflects a larger trend of bird population decline across the country. Nationally, about a third of all bird species found in the U.S. are at risk due to small or declining populations and other threats, according to the U.S. State of the Birds Report. The report is an assessment of the nation's bird populations compiled by scientists from several bird conservation groups. Data sources for the report include U.S. Fish and Wildlife population surveys, National Audubon Society's bird counts, U.S. Geological Survey's Breeding Bird Survey and Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird Status and Trends project. Of the 31 desert-dwelling bird species tracked in the report, more than half showed declining populations in the last 50 years. None of those arid land bird species in the report showed an increasing population. 'The fact that we're seeing such a decline in the Bendire's thrasher population signals high levels of degradation in the ecosystem and declines in other species,' said Krista Kemppinen, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. 'The Bendire's thrasher has an ecological role, but it's also an indicator of changes that may be happening in less studied species and of changes yet to come,' said Kemppinen. Birds at risk: 'Rarer creatures': Elegant trogons, hummingbirds alter flight paths as drought persists The Bendire's thrasher was named after Charles Bendire, a U.S. Army Lieutenant and naturalist who came across the unknown bird in the 1870s. The medium-sized desert songbird has a dusty brown plumage, bright yellow eyes and a long tail. Found in shrubby desert and grassland habitats, the thrasher spends much of its time skittering on the ground searching for its next meal with its tail cocked in the air. The term 'thrasher' is used to describe birds that forage on the ground and 'thrash' leaf litter or dirt in search of their next meal. The Bendire's thrasher is a shy bird, except during breeding season, when the male thrashers sing a rich but jumbled song. The U.S. State of the Birds Report categorizes the Bendire's thrasher as one of 42 red-alert tipping point species, meaning the species requires immediate conservation action to ensure recovery. One of the biggest threats facing the species is sprawl from population centers in the state. The flat, shrubby desert land where the thrashers live is also a prime location for development projects, like the proposed Interstate 11 corridor, a 280-mile highway that would stretch from Wickenburg to Nogales. 'The reason why unchecked development into desert habitat is a concern, is because it destroys the habitat and resources that the thrasher needs for breathing, nesting and overall survival,' said Kemppinen. 'It also serves to increase the fragmentation of existing habitat into smaller and smaller patches. That ultimately become so small that they're unable to support viable populations of native species.' If you like reading about birds: Sign up for AZ Climate, The Republic's weekly environment newsletter Conservationists have been tracking the thrasher's decline for over a decade. In 2010, a diverse coalition of environmental groups and state and federal agencies formed the Desert Thrasher Working Group, a project under the Borderlands Avian Data Center, to study population trends and create management practices for the Bendire's thrasher, LeConte's thrasher and loggerhead shrike. Initially focused on developing survey protocols for the elusive birds, in recent years, the group has begun creating best practices for solar energy projects seeking to develop thrasher habitats. 'These are attractive areas for solar. They don't have a lot of tall trees and the land's rather flat,' said Jennie MacFarland, the director of bird conservation with Tucson Bird Alliance, who is a part of the Desert Thrasher Working Group. 'It looks like this is empty desert, and it's not. It's home for birds like Bendire's and LeConte's thrashers. Caring for condors: At a remote Arizona wildlife center, biologists treat endangered birds Simply having a small population doesn't mean a species meets the requirements to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. The federal law lists five factors to determine whether a species is at risk of extinction. The Bendire's thrasher meets four of those five factors, according to the center, including destruction or threats to habitat, disease or predation, inadequacy of existing regulations, and other manmade or natural factors that threaten the species' existence. If the Bendire's thrasher is listed under the Endangered Species Act, U.S. Fish and Wildlife will craft a recovery plan that will contain specific actions to conserve the species in the wild. The petition is only the first step. Now that the center's petition has been submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the federal agency will have 90 days to respond. If the agency moves forward, a multi-year scientific analysis and environmental review will be conducted before the Bendire's thrasher is officially listed under the Endangered Species Act. In the meantime, as multiple desert bird species see population decline, MacFarland points to the public's willingness to adapt their properties to bird-friendly habitats as a positive development for conservation. 'One of the biggest bright spots is seeing how many people are interested in turning their yards, their human habitat, into suitable habitat for the species that are willing to live in more urban areas,' said MacFarland with Tucson Bird Alliance. 'Tons of people that are really interested and committed to it, and do a lot of work to make their properties and yards good for birds and wildlife.' John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Group seeks endangered status for Bendire's thrasher, desert songbird
Japan Today
22-05-2025
- General
- Japan Today
Why protecting wildland is crucial to American freedom and identity
By Leisl Carr Childers As summer approaches, millions of Americans begin planning or taking trips to state and national parks, seeking to explore the wide range of outdoor recreational opportunities across the nation. A lot of them will head toward the nation's wilderness areas – 110 million acres, mostly in the West, that are protected by the strictest federal conservation rules. When Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964, it described wilderness areas as places that evoked mystery and wonder, 'where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.' These are wild landscapes that present nature in its rawest form. The law requires the federal government to protect these areas 'for the permanent good of the whole people.' Wilderness areas are found in national parks, conservation land overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, national forests and U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuges. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives began to consider allowing the sale of federal lands in six counties in Nevada and Utah, five of which contain wilderness areas. Ostensibly, these sales are to promote affordable housing, but the reality is that the proposal, introduced by U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, a Nevada Republican, is a departure from the standard process of federal land exchanges that accommodate development in some places but protect wilderness in others. Regardless of whether Americans visit their public lands or know when they have crossed a wilderness boundary, as environmental historians we believe that everyone still benefits from the existence and protection of these precious places. This belief is an idea eloquently articulated and popularized 65 years ago by the noted Western writer Wallace Stegner. His eloquence helped launch the modern environmental movement and gave power to the idea that the nation's public lands are a fundamental part of the United States' national identity and a cornerstone of American freedom. Humble origins In 1958, Congress established the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission to examine outdoor recreation in the U.S. in order to determine not only what Americans wanted from the outdoors, but to consider how those needs and desires might change decades into the future. One of the commission's members was David E. Pesonen, who worked at the Wildland Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley. He was asked to examine wilderness and its relationship to outdoor recreation. Pesonen later became a notable environmental lawyer and leader of the Sierra Club. But at the time, Pesonen had no idea what to say about wilderness. However, he knew someone who did. Pesonen had been impressed by the wild landscapes of the American West in Stegner's 1954 history 'Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West.' So he wrote to Stegner, who at the time was at Stanford University, asking for help in articulating the wilderness idea. Stegner's response, which he said later was written in a single afternoon, was an off-the-cuff riff on why he cared about preserving wildlands. This letter became known as the Wilderness Letter and marked a turning point in American political and conservation history. Pesonen shared the letter with the rest of the commission, which also shared it with newly installed Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. Udall found its prose to be so profound, he read it at the seventh Wilderness Conference in 1961 in San Francisco, a speech broadcast by KCBS, the local FM radio station. The Sierra Club published the letter in the record of the conference's proceedings later that year. But it was not until its publication in The Washington Post on June 17, 1962, that the letter reached a national audience and captured the imagination of generations of Americans. An eloquent appeal In the letter, Stegner connected the idea of wilderness to a fundamental part of American identity. He called wilderness 'something that has helped form our character and that has certainly shaped our history as a people … the challenge against which our character as a people was formed … (and) the thing that has helped to make an American different from and, until we forget it in the roar of our industrial cities, more fortunate than other men.' Without wild places, he argued, the U.S. would be just like every other overindustrialized place in the world. In the letter, Stegner expressed little concern with how wilderness might support outdoor recreation on public lands. He didn't care whether wilderness areas had once featured roads, trails, homesteads or even natural resource extraction. What he cared about was Americans' freedom to protect and enjoy these places. Stegner recognized that the freedom to protect, to restrain ourselves from consuming, was just as important as the freedom to consume. Perhaps most importantly, he wrote, wilderness was 'an intangible and spiritual resource,' a place that gave the nation 'our hope and our excitement,' landscapes that were 'good for our spiritual health even if we never once in ten years set foot in it.' Without it, Stegner lamented, 'never again will Americans be free in their own country from the noise, the exhausts, the stinks of human and automotive waste.' To him, the nation's natural cathedrals and the vaulted ceiling of the pure blue sky are Americans' sacred spaces as much as the structures in which they worship on the weekends. Stegner penned the letter during a national debate about the value of preserving wild places in the face of future development. 'Something will have gone out of us as a people,' he wrote, 'if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed.' If not protected, Stegner believed these wildlands that had helped shape American identity would fall to what he viewed as the same exploitative forces of unrestrained capitalism that had industrialized the nation for the past century. Every generation since has an obligation to protect these wild places. Stegner's Wilderness Letter became a rallying cry to pass the Wilderness Act. The closing sentences of the letter are Stegner's best: 'We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.' This phrase, 'the geography of hope,' is Stegner's most famous line. It has become shorthand for what wilderness means: the wildlands that defined American character on the Western frontier, the wild spaces that Americans have had the freedom to protect, and the natural places that give Americans hope for the future of this planet. America's 'best idea' Stegner returned to themes outlined in the Wilderness Letter again two decades later in his essay 'The Best Idea We Ever Had: An Overview,' published in Wilderness magazine in spring 1983. Writing in response to the Reagan administration's efforts to reduce protection of the National Park System, Stegner declared that the parks were 'Absolutely American, absolutely democratic.' He said they reflect us as a nation, at our best rather than our worst, and without them, millions of Americans' lives, his included, would have been poorer. Public lands are more than just wilderness or national parks. They are places for work and play. They provide natural resources, wildlife habitat, clean air, clean water and recreational opportunities to small towns and sprawling metro areas alike. They are, as Stegner said, cures for cynicism and places of shared hope. Stegner's words still resonate as Americans head for their public lands and enjoy the beauty of the wild places protected by wilderness legislation this summer. With visitor numbers increasing annually and agency budgets at historic lows, we believe it is useful to remember how precious these places are for all Americans. And we agree with Stegner that wilderness, public lands writ large, are more valuable to Americans' collective identity and expression of freedom than they are as real estate that can be sold or commodities that can be extracted. Leisl Carr Childers is Associate Professor of History, Colorado State University. Michael Childers is Associate Professor of History, Colorado State University. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. External Link © The Conversation
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Feds 'mistakenly' kill collared and possibly pregnant Mexican gray wolf in Arizona
A federal wildlife agency 'mistakenly' killed an endangered and possibly pregnant breeding-age Mexican gray wolf in Greenlee County, according to a memo from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The killing occurred after officials issued a lethal removal order for an uncollared wolf from the Bear Canyon wolf pack on April 7 in response to a series of attacks on livestock grazing on public land. The order, signed by Brady McGee, the Mexican wolf coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, authorized the USDA's Wildlife Services to kill one uncollared wolf from the pack, but preserve the breeding female wolf, known as AF1823, who was wearing a nonfunctioning radio collar. 'It is our intent not to remove the breeding female (wearing a nonfunctioning radio collar) who will likely whelp a new litter of pups soon,' stated the order. Despite this, the female wolf was killed on April 14, according to a two-sentence outcome memo: "During efforts to fulfill this removal order, AF1823 was mistakenly lethally removed on April 14, 2025. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined to close this removal order." USDA Wildlife Services did not immediately respond to questions regarding the incident. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials referred questions to the original order and declined to answer whether the incident was under investigation. The killing of the seven-year-old female wolf has outraged advocacy groups, who are calling for accountability for the agencies that manage the endangered wolves. 'You can't just make a mistake when you're dealing with an endangered species. I mean, these are the people we trust to be managing our wolves,' said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project, a wildlife advocacy group. 'They were taking a really big chance in authorizing this removal, and this is the worst possible outcome for this family of wolves.' Wolf packs: Plan to capture Mexican gray wolves near Grand Canyon may violate law, wolf advocates warn Wolves in the Bear Canyon pack are members of the experimental, nonessential population of endangered Mexican gray wolves living in Arizona and New Mexico. While it is illegal for the public to kill a Mexican wolf, their designation as nonessential authorizes government agencies to trap, harass and kill 'problem' wolves that prey on livestock. The Bear Canyon pack consists of seven wolves living in rugged, remote terrain in Greenlee County. Since 2024, the wolves have been suspected and confirmed to have preyed on livestock grazing on public land in the area, including four confirmed depredation incidents in 2025. According to the removal order, wildlife managers and ranchers had taken preventative measures to deter the wolves. These measures included hazing activities and establishing alternative food caches to lure the wolves away from livestock, which proved ineffective and unsustainable. U.S. Fish and Wildlife authorized the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services personnel to conduct the killing of a single uncollared wolf to manage the conflict situation, but noted specifically that the collared, alpha members of the pack should not be targeted. After the killing of the collared female wolf on April 14, U.S. Fish and Wildlife closed the removal order. 'We don't think that lethal control should be ordered for depredations taking place on public lands, because public lands are wildlife habitat. Wildlife acting like wild animals should be expected,' said Anderson. 'You can't expect wild animals not to take advantage of easy prey in their habitat," Anderson said. "Punishing them for eating the food that's readily available is fundamentally unfair, both to the individual wolves but also to the American public that wants to see wolves recovered.' It is unclear whether other management actions, like nonlethal capture or relocation, were considered when making this decision, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife did not respond to questions from The Republic. Essential environmental news: Sign up for The Republic's AZ Climate newsletter, delivered to you every Tuesday The Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, is a smaller and genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf that has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1976, following the near eradication of the species for livestock predator control. According to a 2024 population survey, at least 286 wolves were living in Arizona and New Mexico. The existing population of Mexican wolves is all descended from seven surviving wolves used in a binational captive breeding program in the 1980s and 1990s. The small genetic pool makes the wolves vulnerable to issues caused by inbreeding, and highlights the importance of preserving breeding adult wolves to increase genetic diversity, advocates say. The killed female wolf AF1823, named Asiza by schoolchildren in Arizona, was 7 years old and considered the matriarch of the Bear Canyon Pack. According to wildlife advocates, the death could upend the highly social and interdependent structure of the wolf pack. 'The killing of Asiza is extremely upsetting, both for her family and for lobo supporters across the country,' said Regan Downey, Wolf Conservation Center director of education, in a news release. 'Her death endangers the Bear Canyon pack's survival; research shows that killing a breeding female can destabilize the pack and increase the likelihood of future conflicts.' As wolf advocacy groups call for transparency and accountability from the federal agencies, the government has not provided any details surrounding the incident outside of the outcome memo posted publicly online. 'The killing of this breeding female is tragic news for the recovery of Mexican wolves,' said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a news release. 'While the agencies claim that killing this female was a mistake, they're staying silent on the details as to how such an egregious error was made and how they'll ensure mistakes like this won't be repeated," Zaccardi said. "We need to know why this killing occurred and how they'll make sure it never happens again.' John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Federal agency kills collared and possibly pregnant Mexican gray wolf
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mexican gray wolf wanders north of I-40 -- but it's not Asha
Mar. 28—A Mexican gray wolf has wandered 20 miles north of Interstate 40, the boundary for the area where the U.S. government is trying to recover the endangered species. The female wolf, F2996, escaped from a crate west of Show Low, Arizona, after being captured by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an annual wolf population count and has moved across Arizona and New Mexico. The Mexican gray wolf population has gradually increased after years of recovery efforts, going up 11% in the most recently released wolf count. There are at least 286 wolves in New Mexico and Arizona, according to the annual wolf count published at the beginning of the month. "We are monitoring her movements to see if she returns to her pack," said a statement from the agency. There are no plans to capture the wolf at this time, even though it has moved outside the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area. Environmental advocacy groups that have long criticized the boundaries of the recovery area celebrated the agency's decision not to capture the wolf. "True recovery of the endangered Mexican wolf will require allowing them to expand their range," Kirk Robinson, executive director of Western Wildlife Conservancy, said in a statement. "Insisting on an artificial boundary that wolves must not cross makes no sense." Ranchers have previously raised concerns about the experimental wolf population. A County Livestock Loss Authority was created by the Catron, Sierra and Socorro county governments to help compensate livestock producers in the experimental population area that lose cattle because of wolf depredations. Mexican wolves outside the experimental population area are protected as endangered species under federal law. Livestock owners and the public cannot haze or harass Mexican gray wolves north of I-40 without violating the Endangered Species Act, unless the wolf poses an active threat to human safety. Killing or harming the endangered species can result in a fine and criminal charges. Another female wolf, dubbed Asha but officially called F2754, made headlines after twice traveling to northern New Mexico in 2023. At first F2754 was relocated to southern Arizona, and then she was temporarily placed in captivity near Socorro. She remains in captivity in the pre-release facility in New Mexico. Breeding behavior has been observed in F2754, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife, so the next decisions about that wolf will depend on if she has pups. U.S. Fish and Wildlife has a public map showing recent wolf locations available online. The map updates every two weeks and buffers the wolves' exact locations to protect them.
