New Wolf Group Forms

A new coalition is forming to fight an anticipated reduction in federal protections for wolves that could migrate back into California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington from a population reintroduced in northern Idaho. The environmentalists and scientists fear federal protections could be ended for migrating wolves even before they have established breeding populations. They say that would effectively halt wolf migrations and reintroductions, with the species reoccupying just four percent of its historic range with four percent of its historic population. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to release its wolf reclassification plan this fall. The coalition is calling itself PAWWs, the Pacific Alliance for Wild Wolves.