OUR PROJECT
Our Mission:
The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project is dedicated to bringing back wolves and restoring ecological health in the Grand Canyon Region.
Project Accomplishments:
2009-2010 Project Accomplishments
2008 Project Accomplishments
2005-2007 Project Accomplishments
Our Current Goals:
2011 Project Outlook
Published Articles:
Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project in the Press
Why the GCE is the Last Best Place for Wolves in Arizona:
There is low road density and a good prey base
There are few opportunities for conflict with humans or livestock, because there isn’t too much of either. Plus, we even have a few wolf-friendly ranchers who have cattle around the potentially suitable habitat for wolves in the GCE (which means they are willing to practice good animal husbandry techniques and they recognize the value of wolves to the ecosystem)
Note: Defenders of Wildlife, one of the GCWRP member organizations, has The Bailey Wildlife Foundation to provide support for livestock owners to help PREVENT depredation. In addition, federal funding has been set up as a compensation program, operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to pay ranchers whenever there is a loss of livestock due to depredation by a wolf that was reintroduced.
Download the Defenders of Wildlife
Livestock and Wolves Guide Here
Finally, the majority of the GCE is national parks, national forest, and national monuments…it is our land, public land.
Bringing the Wolf Back to Grand Canyon:
By the late 1920's wolves had been almost completely eliminated from the landscape of northern Arizona. With the arrival of Europeans to the Southwest in the seventeenth century, bringing with them cattle and sheep, most wildlife endured similar persecution. Elk and pronghorn antelope were slaughtered, at first for their meat and later to reduce competition with domestic stock. Stockmen killed virtually any creature, from prairie dog to bighorn sheep, thought to compete with domestic livestock. No group of animals suffered as much as did predators, and none so completely as the wolf.
This was particularly true in Arizona where the livestock industry and government hunters launched total war against the wolf in the 1890's. The exterminators did not understand and, therefore, gave no regard to the important role predators play in nature. Generally, little regard was given to nature at all. The complete extermination of the wolf in Arizona took 60 years and cost millions of taxpayers’ dollars. In the process, distinct subspecies were extirpated from the southwestern United States. Early wolf taxonomists (Young and Goldman 1944) identified two distinct subspecies in the GCE (C.l. mogollenensis and C.l. youngii); however, recent taxonomic revision (Nowak 1995) recognizes only one subspecies (C.l. nubilus), and current genetic research may show original occupation of much of GCE by the Mexican wolf (C.l. baileyii) as well. Regardless of which subspecies once dwelt throughout the GCE, it is certain that the region’s ecosystem suffers without the top predator.
Wolves at Grand Canyon were targeted for additional reasons. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt signed into law a bill establishing the Grand Canyon Game Preserve on the Kaibab and Coconino plateaus. Lacking insights into the ecological role of predators, the government immediately hired hunters to protect "harmless" game animals, such as deer and bighorn sheep, from predators such as cougars and wolves. Between 1906 and 1923 government hunters and others reportedly killed hundreds of cougars and bobcats, thousands of coyotes, and many wolves. The slaughter of most of the mountain's predators, including every wolf, contributed to the explosive increase of deer on the Kaibab Plateau. The deer population peaked in 1924 somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 animals. Overgrazing by deer and cattle, combined with a severe drought, brought disease and starvation. Thousands of deer perished. Incredibly, predator extermination continued.
Now we skip ahead to 1998. Under the Endangered Species Act, an “experimental, non-essential population” of Mexican wolves, bred in captivity, was introduced in the Blue Range of eastern Arizona. Not without difficulty or compromise, however. One compromise was the artificial boundary imposed on the wolves’ movement away from the reintroduction area. If a wolf adventures (as young males and females are biologically required to do to form their own packs) beyond the boundary, then they are captured and returned. One such wolf actually made it to Flagstaff in 2004 before being hit and killed as it crossed Hwy. 89 on the east side of town.
All hope is not lost. The Grand Canyon Ecoregion has been identified by wildlife ecologists as offering extraordinary habitat for wolf recovery. The region contains vast expanses of undeveloped land in national parks, monuments, and forests, and contains ample food for wolves. Scientific research* indicates that this region, extending from the Mogollon Rim all the way up to the high plateaus of southern Utah, can sustain at least 200 wolves
Who Are We?
Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project coordinates the efforts of our Coalition Partners throughout the Southwest, who have come together to help achieve the recovery of Mexican gray wolves in the Grand Canyon region. Wolves play a crucial role in sustaining and restoring the diversity of life in our nations wildlands.
The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project advocates for the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf through education and public outreach. We participate in local and regional events and are often asked to give presentations on wolf related issues in classrooms throughout Northern Arizona. Educating the public and organizing local communities to participate in our work is crucial to our efforts in restoring the Mexican gray wolf to the Grand Canyon region. We effectively engage with public citizens and bring a strong messages to the government agencies charged with protecting wolves and maintaining sustainable habitat conditions for wolves and other wildlife.
The organizations involved with the coalition have a long history of success with predator issues. Coalition members, including Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity were instrumental in returning the wolf to southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, through the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. Many of the organizations are currently working together on the upcoming forest management plans to ensure that lowered road densities, recovery of other native species, and extirpation of non-native species, are a priority, creating safe havens and safe passages for wildlife and paving the way so that some day we may hear the sound of wolves howling across Arizona.
Goals for 2011:
Current Programs and Activities:
The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project (GCWRP) is dedicated to bringing back wolves and restoring ecological health to the Grand Canyon region. One key management strategy is to eliminate all restrictions to wolf dispersal and movements. Occupation of areas outside of the current Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area will be required in order to achieve full recovery of Mexican wolves. Communicating and engaging with Grand Canyon National Park personnel and surrounding land management agencies is essential to achieving successful and meaningful wolf recovery in the American southwest. At the same time, the GCWRP and coalition partners are working to cultivate a new constituency of citizen advocates for wolves in the Grand Canyon region.
Our strategies for wolf recovery in the Grand Canyon region consist of several key approaches:
1) Influence a change of management policies inhibiting wolf recovery in the Grand Canyon region. This includes encouraging the FWS to work quickly and concurrently on a new recovery plan and project rule for Mexican wolves, so that the policies prohibiting the natural dispersal of wolves in the Grand Canyon region are eliminated. Because officials in several counties in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area have come out in opposition to wolves, we will work to educate and influence local government officials in the Grand Canyon region and encourage them to demonstrate their support for wolf recovery.
2) Engage and influence the Grand Canyon National Park and other key land management agencies to support wolf recovery in the region. GCWRP activities include meetings with the Superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park, networking with key representatives of adjacent Forest Service lands, bringing land managers and scientists together for collaboration across political boundaries, and participating in land management processes that affect wolves.
3) Cultivate a constituency and build a base of support for the restoration of wolves to the Grand Canyon region. Primary activities are tabling at area events and at the Grand Canyon’s North and South Rims during the summer, giving presentations to schools and organizations, public art installations to raise awareness about wolves, and hosting outreach/education events in regional communities, including Flagstaff and Grand Canyon.
Current Goals and Objectives for 2011:
Goal 1) Change management policies inhibiting wolf recovery in the Grand Canyon region.
Goal 2) Influence the Grand Canyon National Park and other key land management agencies to support wolf recovery in the region.
Goal 3) Cultivate a constituency and build the base of support for the restoration of wolves to the Grand Canyon region.
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