County Takes Stand Against Wolf Program
	Compliments of January 2000

By STEPHEN SIEGFRIED

Daily Press Staff

Despite the protests of a mostly pro-wolf audience, Grant County commissioners on Thursday passed a resolution prohibiting the release into the Gila and Aldo Leopold wildernesses of Mexican gray wolves from packs with a history of killing livestock.

The commission passed the resolution by a 2-1 vote after listening to more than an hour of comments of residents and representatives from environmental groups, two of which proposed resolutions in support of wolf reintroduction.

The resolution -- which carries no provisions for enforcement -- states that relocation of Mexican gray wolves with a proven record of preying on domestic animals is prohibited in Grant County. Portions of the recovery area designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lie within the county.

Approval of the measure comes in the wake of recent cattle depredations by wolves in Catron County, where a similar resolution was passed Dec. 20.

During a discussion prior to the vote, Commission Chairman Carl Scholl said the action was called for because the county "has had no input as to why (wolf introduction) is happening." Scholl said the resolution was in the best interest of county residents, adding that the commission had a responsibility to protect the "health, safety and welfare" of residents.

Few of those in the overflow crowd seemed to agree.

Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity, among those environmental groups that has sued the FWS over wolf reintroduction, called the resolution "a war against wolves in behalf of a very small minority."

Alluding to recent wolf kills in Catron County, Robinson said the cattle were on public land and on a grazing allotment 68 percent of which, according to a U.S. Forest Service study, was in poor condition "with too few prey species."

Robinson called on the commission to support the relocation of wolves that have killed cattle in New Mexico and Arizona into wildernesses areas where there are no livestock.

Citing the results of a statewide poll that supported reintroduction, Robinson said Grant County citizens are in favor of having wolves in the wilderness.

"I hope the County Commission is ready for that also," he said.

Robinson then read an alternative resolution that called on the county to support wolf reintroduction and "to set an example and a precedent of coexistence with wildlife and the landscapes around us."

Representing Gila Watch, a Silver City-based environmental group, Michael Sauber told commissioners the public "overwhelmingly supports" wolf reintroduction.

"It's not the public's responsibility to make public lands safe for cattle," Sauber said, before blaming wolf depredation on what he said are poor land management practices by the Forest Service and public lands ranchers.

Sauber proposed an alternative resolution that would recognize that cattle grazing on the Gila National Forest "is not ecologically sound and not in the best interest of the inhabitants of Grant County." He also claimed the commission had tried to circumvent the public on the issue, leaving it off an advertised agenda in a previous work session to avoid opposition.

Scholl, later in the meeting, and after most of those who supported wolf reintroduction had left, said the commission's action was proper, that a draft version of the resolution was presented in the session "only to see if it said what we wanted it to say," and that no formal action had been taken.

"Wolves preceded cattle and people in wilderness," Silver City resident Art Martinez said, before telling commissioners they lacked the authority to prohibit wolves from being reintroduced into wilderness areas.

"We're asking you as leaders to understand these public lands belong to (those in the room) and the people of the entire community," Martinez said.

A number of those who addressed the commission said too much has been made of recent incidents of wolf depredation, and that it has been anticipated in a recovery plan for the species, which has provisions to compensate ranchers for livestock killed by wolves.

Deirdre Wolf, a former ranch wife, after describing the time and effort it takes to raise, care for and market cattle, said having a cow killed by wolves "is the easiest money a rancher can make."

Then, alluding to commission comments about the need to protect the public, Wolf said there are no documented accounts of wolves attacking humans.

"Mice in New Mexico are more dangerous than wolves," Wolf said, in reference to deaths caused by rodent-borne hantavirus.

Others thought it was ironic that such an ordinance would even be considered.

In calling on the commission to take the opportunity "to restore this powerful presence into the wild," Joel Cosper, a wilderness ranger and outdoor educator, said conflicts between livestock and wolves "have always been and always will be. It's what the agencies expected. It's what makes wolves what they are."

Cosper asked commissioners to consider how the community is presented on billboards and advertisements in light of the resolution: "Gateway to the Gila Wilderness -- where wolves are prohibited."

Silver City resident Jim Goodkind presented commissioners with a similar sentiment.

"I see you sitting behind a desk with a symbol of a bear with a hump (representing a grizzly bear) trying to ensure that another species exterminated from the Gila won't be introduced again," Goodkind said.

The last documented kill of a grizzly in New Mexico was reported in the Gila Wilderness in 1933.

Among those few who spoke against wolf reintroduction was Tyrone resident Bill Kupke, who said he had come to the meeting to speak out on another matter.

Kupke said he was not polled about his opinion on the issue, adding that he thought most of those who supported wolf recovery were in the room, while those who opposed it had not attended the meeting.

Kupke said problems with reintroduction boiled down to "if the wolf can't eat the deer, he'll eat the cow."

Terry Grimes, the manager of the county airport, said he was speaking on the issue as a private citizen and not a county appointee.

Grimes expressed concerns that the species had remained in captivity too long, and has lost those characteristics needed to survive in the wild. "I don't want to see an animal die because it starves to death," Grimes said, adding that wolves now in the wild are receiving supplemental feedings.

Sharon Morgan, a Silver City resident, said the resolution was "moot," because it is addressed in the FWS Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Plan, which calls for wolves that leave the recovery area to be captured and removed.

The plan precludes wolves establishing territory outside the recovery area except on private lands and in instances of landowner consent, Morgan said.

Morgan then asked those on either side of the issue to practice "perseverance, patience, and a whole lot of tolerance."

Scholl, before calling for a motion to vote on the county's resolution, said he agreed with Kupke, that the majority of county residents who support wolf reintroduction "are in this room," and that the majority of those he has spoken with oppose it.

At that point, Martinez told commissioners they had "overstepped their boundaries" in the resolution.

Scholl told Martinez that he didn't think "any legislator anywhere" would deny the commission's authority when it comes to looking out for the welfare of constituents.

Commissioner Manuel Serna then moved to adopt the resolution, with Scholl seconding the motion. Serna and Scholl voted to adopt the resolution.

Commissioner David Conway abstained.

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