Vermont~ Talk grows of restoring wolves to the East
Monday, 30-Oct-00 16:23:58
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/303/region/Talk_grows_of_restoring_wolves:.s
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Talk grows of restoring wolves to the East
By Associated Press, 10/29/2000 14:55
WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) Encouraged by successful wolf restoration efforts in the
West, federal wildlife officials are beginning to consider a similar effort
in Vermont and other northeastern states.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast wolf ''recovery plan'' - which
could include reintroduction of the animals - is still at least a year away.
But as the federal effort shows, Northeast wolf restoration, once scoffed at
as a radical idea, now has mainstream support.
The wolf's presence on the landscape signifies a natural system that is
balanced, one in which prey species such as deer, moose and beaver are kept
in check by a highly efficient predator, writes wolf researcher John
Therbage in ''The Return of the Wolf,'' a book just published by Middlebury
College Press on the future of wolves in the Northeast.
''Often linked with the wolf's position as a summit (top-tier) predator is
the more philosophical idea that land that can grow a wolf is a healthy
land, one with all the ecosystem parts in place,'' Therbage writes.
But unlike western states, where wolves have been released on federal land,
wolves in New England would have to live mostly on private property. The
lack of large areas of public land poses a unique problem for wildlife
officials who hope to bring back the wolf to its ancestral Northeastern
range.
''Two things have to happen (for the wolf recovery to occur). We have to
have the support of state agencies,'' said Paul Nickerson, chief of the
endangered species division for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the
Northeast. ''And the private landowners have to be willing to take care of
them.''
Northern Maine and New York's Adirondack Mountains probably have the best
sites suitable for the returning wolf, experts say. ''Of the four states,
it's probably safe to say Vermont has the least amount of suitable wolf
habitat,'' Nickerson said.
Yet wolves don't acknowledge political boundaries. And if they did live in
northern Maine, New York or New Hampshire, some might wander to Vermont's
Northeast Kingdom to find a home, particularly in the vast forests of Essex
County.
Associated Press