Environmentalists filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tuesday over plans for managing the recovery of the endangered Mexican gray wolf.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife argue the new rule, which takes effect August 1, uses the wrong metric to assure genetic diversity. The rule sets a goal of at least 22 released wolves “surviving to breeding age,” whether or not they actually breed.
Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator with FWS, Brady McGee, said those who developed the model assumed the majority of wolves two years and older would reproduce.
“But they did account for not all of them," he said. "And so we feel like — through that model — we don’t need to track whether they are breeding or not.”
The environmentalists also argue the rule “prevents necessary expansion,” by limiting the area in New Mexico and Arizona that the wolves can inhabit.
In a statement on the environmental impact of the rule, the federal agency said that the area “contains sufficient suitable habitat.”
Debate over wolf populations is often tied to their impact on the ranching community. New Mexico Rep. Gail Armstrong recently told KUNM that ranchers blame wolves for cattle deaths in Catron County, which she represents.
"It's been very detrimental to a lot of my constituents," she said.
She said she thought the problems of rural areas sometimes weren't taken into account in policymaking.