Action #1 – Stop Trump from removing Endangered Species Act protections from wolves. – write a comment (Deadline 5/14)
But first, a message and a meeting…
(A message from Jim Hines, Sierra Club California/Nevada Wildlife Team)
“The howl of the wolf in the American wilderness may be heard no more.
A recently released proposal by the Trump Administration would remove all federal endangered species act protections for wolves and this opens the door for a number of individual western states to allow hunting of wolves. My Sierra Club wildlife team is working on getting people to the 7 upcoming public hearings across America on this issue. We are also asking people to submit their written comments using this link.
Help us protect wolves.“
UPDATE: CA PUBLIC HEARING TO PROTECT GRAY WOLVES – CANCELLED!
It comes as no surprise that the U.S. Government will NOT be holding public hearings to accept public input on the U.S. Dept. of the Interior’s proposal to remove all federal endangered species act protections gray wolves in the U.S. The Sierra Club and their partners (Defenders of Wildlife, CBD, Humane Society of US) will finance and hold their own public hearings, using the same format as the U.S. Government – a panel presentation and then public comment, documented by a court reporter and then submitted to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Please spread the word and attend the meeting to speak out for protecting gray wolves. There will be 7 across the U.S. and the one nearest folks in California and Nevada will be: May 2, 2019, 5-8 PM, Clunie Community Center (Grand Hall), 601 Alhambra Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95816
Whether you can attend a meeting or not, write a comment to the government by 5/14, 11:59 pm EST.
Now, write a comment. Then schedule yourself to write another. 250,000 is a big goal!
Information sheets on the war on wolves from the Center for Biological Diversity.
- Explainer on the myths against Wolves here.
- Wolf Campaign background here
- FAQ’s on wolves here.
- Mexican Gray Wolves here.
- Red wolves here
The proposed regulation to wipe out wolves is here
Howl back/comment here
Deadline May 14th, 2019, at 11:59 PM ET
Sample Comments:
Tip #1: Read other people’s comments here. There are a lot of inspriring ones already. Exact duplicate comments will be thrown out, so channel your creative writing class from 7th grade and write in your own voice.
Tip #2: After posting yours, send a copy to indivisibleventura@gmail.com and we’ll add it to our “examples” listing here to help others get started.
Comment: I am appalled by the Department of the Interiors decision to strip Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves. While these protections have led to significant successes in restoring gray wolves to some of their former habitat, gray wolves still only occupy a small portion of their historic range.
I strongly urge that the Department do more to protect gray wolves, not undermine the safeguards that protect them.
Comment: I am alarmed that the Trump Administration is considering action to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the continental United States. We nearly eradicated these wolves from the American landscape just decades ago. Efforts to bring them back and the benefits that wolves provide to their ecosystems have only begun. In order for gray wolves to return to their former habitats, the protections of the Endangered Species Act must remain.
I urge you to reconsider any action to strip gray wolves of protections in the continental United States and to develop a national wolf recovery plan that will allow these beneficial, native species to return to their former homes.
Comment: Scientists estimate that hundreds of thousands of wolves once inhabited the lower 48 states. Decades of human persecution, however, brought them to the brink of extinction. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, wolf populations are now making a modest recovery but they do still remain functionally extinct in the vast majority of places where they used to live. Furthermore, wolves face an awful plight in states where they’ve already lost federal protections. In Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, nearly 3,500 wolves have already been killed in just eight years.
The wild ancestor of the domestic dogs we know and love today, wolves are icons of Americas remaining wild landscapes. Their presence is vital to maintaining the balance of their native habitat. Wolves regulate the behavior of elk and deer populations, keeping herds from overgrazing. This allows trees to grow in greater abundance, grasses to grow taller, and animals that rely on them to flourish, strengthening the resilience of the entire ecosystem.
Bald eagles were afforded federal protections for long enough to allow their successful recovery. Likewise, wolves need to retain their own federal protections if they are to return to the remaining wild places that are suitable for them and that still need them.
Thank you for considering my comments, and I urge you to cancel the plans to strip federal protections from wolves across the lower 48 states.
Comment: Shooting social/pack animals is wrong on multiple levels. I’m writing to strongly oppose the proposed rule Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2018-0097 that would remove federal Endangered Species Act protections for the wolf. I ask this rule be abandoned.
First, this would be a devastating blow to wolf recovery. Without federal protections, states will have no limits on the management of this iconic and maligned species. It will be a return to the days when wolves were shot on sight, killed in traps, and relentlessly persecuted.
In states where wolves lost federal protections, reckless hunting and trapping seasons were implemented and wolf persecution and poaching immediately resumed. This will happen again if wolves lose their protected status. State officials disregard the damage that wolf-killing has on the population, the pack structure and the wolves’ genetic diversity.
Wolves in the United States were the subject of brutal and reckless attempts to drive them from the landscape in the last century. When they were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1974, they were gone in all but one state in the continental U.S.
There are still many threats to wolves including illegal killing that is not controlled when they are not protected and only barely controlled when wolves are federally protected. Wolves were placed on the Endangered Species List forty years ago because this intolerance and persecution drove them to the brink of extinction.
Current federal endangered species protections allow for federal oversight of state actions and provide funding for wolf recovery. Federal oversight is an opportunity to use and develop nonlethal livestock conflict prevention techniques. If wolves are legislatively delisted, federal funding to farmers for livestock losses due to conflicts with wolves would be unavailable.
Please reconsider this unscientific plan and instead develop a strong wolf recovery plan. Wolves deserve better, and I urge you to halt these plans.
Comment: I’m writing to urge you to pass a resolution formally opposing the Trump administration’s plan to strip Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves in the lower 48. Wolves and other wildlife are important to me and crucial to restoring California’s natural heritage. The Trump administration’s plan takes us in exactly the wrong direction — back to the days when wolves were persecuted to the brink of extinction. It could interfere with state conservation efforts in California, with dire consequences.
Simply put wolf recovery isn’t complete, and the species is just beginning to return to our home state. Wolf populations across the country today amount to just one percent of their former numbers, and the species occupies less than 10 percent of its historic range. With less than a dozen animals in California so far, it’s crucial that federal protections continue to protect source populations in adjacent states.
What’s more, stripping federal protections means California would have to bear the full economic burden of wolf conservation efforts, without grant funding provided under the federal Endangered Species Act.
As you well know, scientific studies show that wolves greatly benefit their ecosystems. They keep elk moving, for instance, thereby decreasing browsing along streams and allowing saplings to mature into trees. This provides habitat for migrating birds and building materials for beavers, whose dams create cool, deep ponds that young fish and frogs need to thrive. Wolves also provide carrion for scavenging animals such as eagles, wolverines and weasels, and they can help limit the spread of wildlife pandemics by preying on diseased animals.
For all these reasons, I urge you to issue a resolution opposing the Trump administration’s plan to delist wolves and support the return of this iconic species to California.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 