Set the table and hope the wolf appears~ Wolf Reintroduction in New England (Opinion)
Monday, 23-Oct-00 11:32:28
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=10014
Guest Opinion:
Set the table and hope the wolf appears
By JOHN D. HARRIGAN
I DO NOT WANT TO SEE a concerted effort to reintroduce wolves into
northern New England. I do want to make it possible for the wolf to come
back on its own, which despite all the learned arguments to the contrary I
think it will.
I want to protect it as a species, deal with problem individuals and
manage it in an enlightened way if and when it appears. I guess the simple
summary of this approach is "Set the table and wait and hope that the guest
appears." And I do indeed think the table is well set and the guest will
eventually appear, if he indeed already hasn't.
Second, I am not comfortable with the apparent decision that the gray wolf
is the wolf to be talking about. Several of my friends and acquaintances who
are on top of things in the wolf research world think there's a pretty good
chance that our wolf in the Northeast may have been the red wolf. To date I
know of no widespread effort to collect evidence, in the form of documented
artifacts, that might yield DNA or other evidence of just what was here. I
am uncomfortable with talk of a recovery effort before the science is in.
Third, even though I share the dismay that our ignorance and subsequent
eradication of the wolf created a vacant niche in the scheme of things, I
also know full well that the coyote has moved in to fill that niche quite
nicely and is ever-adapting to more fully reach its maximum ability to
fulfill the role. Little has been said about the coyote in all this lofty
debate. This adapting, evolving animal gets woefully short shrift.
Then there is the matter is misplaced priorities and funding. We seem all
too eager to fix on the wolf as an emotional, symbolic, feel-good cause and
commit inordinate amounts of time, energy, public attention and dollars to
its status. Meanwhile swamps get filled in, the habitat all around us
continues to be degraded, dozens of species are put at risk with every
passing year and the public's greed for land and consumption of resources go
on unabated.
What good is going to extraordinary effort to bring another animal into a
house that needs drastic, widespread repair? Why expend so much on some new
furniture when the foundation, walls and roof are at such peril? Why let our
loving gaze focus so intently on the wolf, when an immediate about-face is
needed to look myriad other problems and hard decisions in the eye?
Finally, the wolf issue promises to be the biggest and most emotional
environmental issue of the past three or four decades. It is most certainly
going to pit friend against friend, political bedfellow against bedfellow.
It has already polarized much of the outdoor community, farmers, loggers,
hunters, bird watchers, hikers, landowners, conservationists and the debate
has barely begun. If we truly want to enter this fight, we had better be
ready for a great deal of collateral damage.
Can the cause of conservation afford this, given how long it has taken us
to come this far?
I too would be thrilled to be on the planet at that moment in the long
clock of time that the wolf reappeared to howl from the ridges of northern
New England. But I am not convinced that we know enough about the wolf or
that we may not do more damage than good. I am not convinced that a recovery
plan should be a priority or anywhere near it, given the other challenges we
face. And I do not think we can afford the inevitable damage to
relationships and common causes that have taken years to achieve.
I hope the National Wildlife Federation's leadership thinks long and hard
before it decides just how to move, if at all, on this critical issue.
John D. Harrigan is columnist with the New Hampshire Sunday News. He is a
North Country newspaperman and part-time farmer, majoring in sheep, beef,
turkeys, chickens and kids.
John D. Harrigan