USFW Service Looking For Public Comments On Wolf Introduction
	Compliments of February 2000

A federal agency Friday announced the availability of an environmental assessment regarding the proposed release of wolves into the Gila Wilderness.

Public commments are being accepted in response to the document, "Translocation of Mexican Wolves Throughout the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area."

Copies may be obtained by writing to the Mexican wolf recovery coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 1306, Albu- querque, NM 87103.

Written comments may be sent through March 15 to that address, or by fax at (505) 248-6922.

Public hearings are set for 7-9 p.m. March 1 at the Reserve Community Center and 7-9 p.m. March 2 at Western New Mexico University's Light Hall in Silver City.

The environmental assessment "only addresses the capture and relocation of wolves for management purposes which were previously released into the primary recovery zone within the Blue Range wolf recovery area," a Fish and Wildlife Service news release stated.

That recovery area, in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico, emcompasses about 7,000 square miles of the Apache and Gila national forests.

"The translocation of wolves is a management action which allows for quick response to conflict situations or other management needs," the release said. "Translocation can benefit wolves and human activities by limiting conflicts with people and livestock, avoiding wolf losses, and aiding in the dispersal of wolves into suitable locations throughout the (recovery area)."

The agency has proposed four potential release sites in the Gila Wilderness: McKenna Park, Chicken Coop and Creel canyons, Miller Springs and Halfmoon Park.

Among the candidates for release into the wilderness are the four surviving members of the Mule Pack, which recently were rounded up after they reportedly scavenged a dead horse on an Arizona road.

Officials want to move the pack "to an area where they have elk as prey, and room for the pups to disperse," said Wendy Brown, acting Wolf Recovery Team leader.

"We will get them back out there just as soon as we possibly can," she added.

The pack's alpha female was injured when it was ensnared in a leghold trap. It is unknown whether it will be re-released. Two of the pack's pups are missing and presumed dead, possibly due to parvovirus.

Meanwhile, all but one member of the Gavilan Pack have been recaptured and taken to Ted Turner's Ladder Ranch east of Hillsboro. They reportedly killed a pregnant cow and a bull on a national forest grazing allotment west of Glenwood.

A 2-year-old male member of the pack is establishing new territory north of the Gila Wilderness, according to officials, who do not plan to recapture it.