Mexican wolf population finally increases a bit

Grows from 42 to 50 in the year 2010-

Finally there’s a little bit of good news about Mexican wolves. After the population stagnated well below the recovery figure of 100 wolves, I has declined in recent years.  In 2010, on the strength of wild born pups and a halt on government killing for livestock depredations, it grew by 8.  The wolves were about equally distributed between Arizona and New Mexico.

Illegal shootings were the leading cause of death.

Federal biologists count 50 Mexican wolves in wild. Associated Press

$58,000 Reward Offered in another Arizona Wolf Shooting

Biggest reward offered in some time for info on a wolf shooting-

Yet another collared Mexican gray wolf, F521 from the Fox Mountain Pack, found dead in December.

$58,000 Reward Offered in Arizona Wolf Shooting. Arizona Reporter

This reward was first offered in July for the killings of other collared Mexican gray wolves.

Anyone with information in Arizona is encouraged to call USFWS agents in Mesa, AZ at 480-967-7900 or in Alpine, AZ at 928-339-4232.

Mexican wolf recovery: a classic hegemonic struggle?

Great article in Demarcated Landscapes rejects the dominion of ranchers over the rest of us-

“. . . along comes this opinion piece from the Salt Lake City Tribune suggesting that if ranchers can’t make peace with the lobo, then the lobo cannot be recovered.

…in the battle between our deep-seated fears and our hopes, the wolves bear the greatest burden. There is no new narrative of coexistence, of respect for all creatures on the land. We seem stuck in the stories of the old days, when wolves were the enemy that must be eliminated.

Until we change that perception, wolves in the Southwest won’t have a prayer

Yeah, well, you know what? Fuck that. Let’s change the perception that ranchers have any say in the matter instead. Let’s let the new power- the power of the majority of voters who want wolves back on the landscape (democracy) and the power of ecological common sense (that predators are important- duh!) be the new hegemonic force. People can’t make a living with their cows wandering around in wolf country? Then take a buy-out.

Read the rest . . . . Mexican wolf recovery: a classic hegemonic struggle? Demarcated Landscapes.

Sadly, Arizona Game and Fish just voted to support delisting the Mexican wolf, of which only 40 are left.  Game and Fish abandoning gray wolves. By Steve Robinson Editorial Sounding Board. Arizona Daily Sun.

The fact that they would support delisting when there are only 40 animals shows the number of wolves is an irrelevant issue.  This is a cultural battle between us and those who just assume they have some right to push us around — those who hold the hegemony.

Arizona Rethinking Open Range Laws

On the “open range” if you don’t want someone else’s cattle on your property, you have to fence them out!

Arizona is rethinking the fairness of this tradition.  So are people in other states.

Arizona Rethinking Open Range Laws. By Marc Lacey. New York Times.

If you hit a black cow in the middle of the night on a public highway, you are always to blame and will have to pay for the dead cow even as you pay for your spouse, friend or child’s funeral.

Wolf-recovery program now ‘at risk of failure’

Cumulative impacts of many factors cited

A new report by the Us Fish and Wildlife Service assesses the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program and the news isn’t good.

Cumulatively there are many risks for the population.  Among them are poaching, too many controls related to depredation, small litter sizes and low pup survival possibly related to inbreeding.

The report states:

While it is not biologically reasonable to expect the population to track exactly with predictions or to increase every year, population swings over the last 5 years, coupled with a steady decline in the number of breeding pairs over the last 3 years, and inability of the project to achieve its objective to increase the minimum population by 10 percent in each of the last 2 years, indicate that the cumulative effects of identified threats coupled with the population’s biological parameters are putting the population at risk of failure.

Wolf-recovery program now ‘at risk of failure’.
Tim Steller Arizona Daily Star

Mountain lion management plan angers conservationists

Rare lions are to be killed to protect rare bighorn sheep.

Ron Kearns, a frequent commentator on this site and retired wildlife biologist of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, was recently interviewed for a story about mountain lion management on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona. The refuge has set a policy which requires mountain lions which have killed more than two bighorn sheep in a 6-month period be lethally removed. Meanwhile bighorn hunting is allowed on the refuge.

Mountain lion management plan angers conservationists.
YumaSun

Biologist pleads guilty to luring America’s last jaguar to trap

Emil McCain pleads guilty to a misdemeanor crime: illegal take of an endangered species-

Jaguar trapper guilty. Arizona Daily Star

Accounts conflict on how jaguar was trapped

Was Macho B intentionally caught?

The question about whether or not jaguar scat was placed at the trap site or not is the focus of the article. One former employee says she placed the scat at the trap site on the orders of her boss while the employee who was fire recently says she is lying.

Some have suggested to me that the use of a snare may have greatly contributed to Macho B’s death. There are photos of his paw which show it being swollen and that this may have caused much stress as well as caused infection.

Accounts conflict on how jaguar was trapped
Tony Davis Arizona Daily Star

G&F worker is fired for alleged lying, cover-up in jaguar capture

The investigation of Macho B’s death is ongoing

Macho B after being collared

I saw this story but was too busy to post it when it was published last month. I’m posting it now because I think it is an important story and also because we’ve been covering the saga of Macho B, the last wild jaguar in the US.

He was captured in February of 2009 in Arizona, tranquilized, and given a gps radio collar. Shortly afterwards it was noticed that his movements became limited so he was recaptured and then euthanized. Investigators say that his death was hastened by capture related stress.

There have also been allegations claiming that jaguar scat was placed at the trapping sites in an attempt at capturing him while trapping cougars for an ongoing study. The worker fired by AZGF has said as much.

“One federal agency, the U.S. Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General, concluded earlier this year that the capture by state workers was intentional and that the evidence points to criminal wrongdoing.”

G&F worker is fired for alleged lying, cover-up in jaguar capture
Tony Davis Arizona Daily Star

Mexico to place 5 wolves near AZ

REINTRODUCTION PLANNED AS EARLY AS THIS MONTH

This story appeared last week while I was gone and there was a little discussion about it on the open thread but I think it deserves its own thread.

The significance of this story is not so much that wolves are being released into the wild but that it is happening in Mexico close to the border and that if any of these wolves or their progeny enter into the U.S. they will have full protection under the Endangered Species Act and cannot be legally killed even if they are preying on livestock.

This would have significant implications for the floundering Mexican wolf recovery program in Arizona and New Mexico which announced that there are only 42 wolves in the wild, down from the 52 last year. These wolves are considered an experimental, non-essential population.

One of the main hinderances of the current recovery program in Arizona and New Mexico is that there are arbitrary boundaries inside which the wolves must stay. Wolves reintroduced into Mexico would not have these boundaries because they wouldn’t be considered an experimental, non-essential population under the Endangered Species Act.

Mexico to place 5 wolves near AZ
Tim Steller – Arizona Daily Star

Lawsuit Settled over grazing in Sonoran Desert National Monument

Joint news release by the BLM and Western Watersheds Project-

This is a victory for WWPs Arizona Office in Tucson.

NEWS RESEASE

(PHOENIX, AZ)—The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Western Watersheds Projects announced today settlement of a federal lawsuit involving the Sonoran Desert National Monument southwest of Phoenix, Arizona.

Western Watersheds Project filed suit in August of 2008 to challenge livestock grazing within the Monument.  “Our goal was to compel BLM to manage grazing in ways that protect the National Monument and its natural resources,” says Greta Anderson, the Arizona Director of Western Watersheds.

The BLM, a federal agency, is currently drafting a land use plan for the management of the National Monument, called a Resource Management Plan. The settlement stipulates that the Plan must be completed by December 15, 2011.  They will include a determination of whether or not livestock grazing is compatible with the protection of objects identified in the 2001 Presidential Proclamation that established the Monument.   “The Arizona BLM is dedicated to protecting the objects of the National Monument, and this settlement affords the staff a greater opportunity to focus on field work and achieve the deadline to complete the management plans,” says Jim Kenna, the BLM Arizona state director.

Mexican wolf population dipping

Only 42 Mexican wolves!

This was contributed by “TallTrent” on “Have you run across any interesting news?”

– – – – –

On December 28,  I posted an article about the status of Mexican wolves that was pessimistic, but some folks from the area commented that things were looking up.  This story casts doubt on that.

Mexican wolf population dipping. “Officials say total from last year was down nearly 20%.” Tony Davis and Tim Steller. Arizona Daily Star.

Almost all the pups in 2009 ended up dead, and it was an unusually large and hopeful number of pups. I don’t know if it was disease, but the Mexican wolf population is one that is clearly in or close to a genetic bottleneck. High pup mortality is often one result of this.

Arizona Intentionally Snared Last Jaguar, Inquiry Finds

Does this mean they deliberately killed the state’s last jaguar?

Arizona Intentionally Snared Last Jaguar, Inquiry Finds. By Leslie Kaufman. New York Times.

Arizona might close 2/3 its state parks-

Idaho’s governor wants to transfer state parks to Dept. of Lands. Folks fear loss of access to the Henry’s Fork-

Arizona may shut down two-thirds of state parks. Associated Press

The deep recession is taking a big hit on state parks in many states; even those parks that are big money makers.  Arizona has already closed 5 parks and might close 2/3 of them.

Last year in California, the governor wanted to close most of its huge state park system. He was rebuffed.

In Idaho, Butch Otter, wants to abolish the State Department of Parks and Recreation and transfer the function to the State Department of Lands whose mission has been resource extraction, land sales, and which has a close relationship to the grazing land barons.

One of the gems of Idaho’s state park system is Harriman State Park in Island Park. Its 11,000 acres was a donation from the Harriman family. The Henry’s Fork Foundation is worried that the terms of the gift might require the park be taken back.

Idaho governor puts Harriman Park access in jeopardy. West Yellowstone News. Given the large number of visitors, including access to 8 miles of Henry’s Fork, one of the world’s greatest trout streams, this is false economy.

Victory for Jaguars: Obama Pledges Recovery Plan, Habitat Protection

Good news below in the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity-

Capping a 13-year battle to save the American jaguar from extinction, this week the Center for Biological Diversity won a decision from the Obama administration to develop a recovery plan and protect essential habitat for North America’s largest and most endangered cat.

The Bush administration had twice declared that it would not recover, reintroduce, or do anything to protect jaguars in the United States. Twice the Center’s legal team filed suit and struck down the illegal decisions. This left the final decision up to Obama, but until the last moment, we were uncertain he would do the right thing as he has not made endangered species a priority to date.

Now that the Obama administration has committed to developing a federal recovery plan and mapping out the jaguar’s critical habitat, the long, hard work of saving the American jaguar can begin.

Read more in the Arizona Daily Star.

– – – – –
Earlier we had reported bad news. U.S. Fish and Wildlife misses deadline on jaguar recovery plan

U.S. Fish and Wildlife misses deadline on jaguar recovery plan

On last day of court-ordered deadline, USFWS does not announce plan, but asks for an extension-

U.S. Fish and Wildlife misses deadline on jaguar recovery plan. By Susan Montoya Bryan. Associated Press.

Mexican wolves have as bad a year in ’09 as in ’08

Hope for the future with plans to reduce “controls” for livestock depredations?

High mortality for the small population of Mexican wolves continued this year with the population again ending at about 50 wolves. Under new management plans it is hoped that government wolf removal for killing livestock will abate.

Another deadly year for Mexican wolf. By Associated Press

12/29. Note: An informed comment indicates 2009 was a bit of an improvement.

– – – – – – –
Recently on this blog. Federal officials [said to] look for ways to make Mexican wolf recovery a success in the Southwest. Dec. 7, 2009.

Federal officials [said to] look for ways to make Mexican wolf recovery a success in the Southwest

A lot of this article is just blue sky exaggeration-

This article’s URL was emailed to me by someone familiar with the Mexican wolf program. Federal officials look for ways to make wolf recovery a success in the Southwest. By Susan Montoya Bryan. LA Times.

My email friend wrote: “I read these stories and I can’t keep a straight face.  Mexican wolves have killed hundreds of cattle in the last decade?  At best they got 52 of the “little buggers” so any talk of hundreds of dead cattle is absurd.  I certainly hope that someone . . . makes a stand on this kind of misinformation.  If any ranchers have gone out of business or plan to in the future I would think they could come up with a believable story rather than a laughable one………..”

Another Western Watersheds Project victory in Arizona

Western Watersheds Project Wins Summary Judgment on the 100,000 acre Byner Complex Allotments. BLM-

This no “family ranch” but a spin-off of Freeport-McMoRan mining.

Here is the WWP’s news release on the victory for the American people

♦Western Watersheds Project’s Arizona Office has been granted Summary Judgment byAdministrative Law Judge Harvey C. Sweitzer in a successful appeal of a grazing permit decision issued by the Kingman Field Office, Bureau of Land Management. ♦Judge Sweitzer agreed with WWP that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act on the Big Sandy, Los Molinos, and Diamond Joe Allotments (collectively called the “Byner Complex”). ♦The successful Appeal and Motion for Summary Judgment were written by WWP’s Arizona Director Greta Anderson. The rancher on the allotments is not a ranching family at all but a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Copper Company, the Byner Cattle Company. Freeport-McMoRan is one of the world’s largest copper and gold mining companies http://www.fcx.com/ ♦The 98,736 acres of public lands in the Byner Complex encompass a range of vegetation communities, including Joshua trees and saguaros, and provide habitat for Southwestern willow flycatcher, bald eagle, yellow-billed cuckoo, Sonoran desert tortoise, and other native and imperiled wildlife. ♦The Big Sandy River passes through the Big Sandy allotment, and numerous seeps and springs and ephemeral washes occur on all of the allotments. ♦The Byner Complex of allotments has some serious rangeland health issues, and the proposed action sought to limit livestock impacts in some key areas by moving livestock to new unexploited areas through the development of new water sources. To do this, the BLM had proposed building five new wells, eleven new troughs, twelve new miles of pipeline and fifteen new miles of fence, which all could have extensive effects on the landscape and the riparian areas. ♦The BLM failed to analyze or even disclose the descriptions of the new water facilities. Administrative Law Judge Sweitzer found the BLM’s behavior to be in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.This legal decision remands the final grazing decision to the Kingman, Arizona field office of the BLM to redo its analysis before issuing a new grazing decision. ♦The new analysis will need to address the failures of the BLM to analyze many issues including the effects on native ecosystems of invasive species introduced by livestock, the inadequacies of setting rangeland health goals based on existing conditions, the failure to exclude grazing in sensitive riparian areas, the failure to consider effects to imperiled species, and the existing degraded condition of soils, cultural resources, and wildlife habitats. ♦WWP anticipates a more complete and detailed analysis of the Byner Complex allotments by the BLM the next time around !   — Read the Full Order – – – – – – – – – –

Joshua Tree photo: USFWSYou Can Help   Southwestern willow flycatcher photo: USFWS

Western Watersheds Project Is A West Regional Conservation Organization Working To Protect And Restore Western Watersheds And Wildlife. Consider joining Western Watersheds Project yourself or enrolling a friend with a gift membership. Joining is easy at WWP’s secure online membership pageBe sure to visit the WWP web site at http://www.westernwatersheds.org.

Western Watersheds wins a second legal case today

The focus has been on the bighorn sheep versus domestic sheep case, but Greta Anderson of the WWP’s Arizona office won an case before an administratrive law judge today — Western Watersheds Project v. Bureau of Land Management and intervener Byner Cattle Corporation.

Here is the order. Byner Complex Order October 2009

Editorial opinion: Let science lift number of Mexican gray wolves

As a note, David Parsons was director of the Mexican wolf recovery program in its early and more successful years. His Bush boss fired him. Several years ago, he won our “Alpha Award” (awarded by the Wolf Recovery Foundation).

Let science lift number of Mexican gray wolves. By Rich Fredrickson and David Parsons. The Arizona Republic.

Arizona Republican senators fight Arizona’s Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva on closing the Arizona Strip to uranium mining

Followup to Obama’s move to temporarily delay mining claims on a million scenic acres is shaping up into a major battle-

Mine ban at Canyon may fuel new fight By Shaun McKinnon and Erin Kelly. Azcentral.com

Polls show the state’s residents support the general position of Grijalva.

The Arizona Strip is a vast area of mostly BLM lands north of the Grand Canyon and south of the Utah border. Although there are backroads and grazing, it has almost no full time residents.

Who’s Afraid of…

On the Mexican wolf recovery program-

“The [Mexican] wolves will go extinct,” Michael Robinson, conservation advocate with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, says. “If the program is continued exactly the way it is now, these wolves will go extinct.”

– – – – –

In my view the federal government’s Mexican Wolf Recovery program is one of the most screwed up, politicized, and incompetent recovery programs the federal government has ever done. Wolves reproduce rapidly, and while we should not expect the rapid population growth here like the wolves in the northern Rockies because the Mexican wolf is extinct in the wild, there is plenty of prey and the Mexican wolves usually adapt  quickly to the wild, have pups, and their pups have pups if the federal government doesn’t shot them first.

Recovery was on track until 2003 when the Fish and Wildlife Service signed an agreement establishing the Adaptive Management Oversight Committee (“A MOC”). The local livestock operators are required to do even less than their counterparts in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It’s like leaving their truck full of fuel, with keys in the ignition, and their credit card on the seat.

As a result, now the population is stagnant, having declined to 50 animals. It is like a minor “put and take” fishery. Note that this analogy is not original with me. Ralph Maughan

Who’s Afraid of… The big bad wolf? When it comes to New Mexico’s recovery program, the real fear is the wolves won’t be saved. By Laura Paskus. Sante Fe Reporter.

Federal Criminal Investigation begins of Death of Last Known Jaguar in U.S.

U.S. Opens Criminal Inquiry Into Death of Arizona Jaguar. By John Dougherty.NYTimes.com

Victory in Mexican wolf lawsuit

Legal success is only a first step, however-

Judge sides with environmentalists in wolf case.
By Susan Montoya Bryan. Associated Press Writer.

The victory was that the judge rejected the federal government’s motion to throw the case out.

Win on Jaguar Critical Habitat!

Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity score big victory for the big cat-

This could mean that critical habitat for the jaguar will have to be established in the United States and even a reintroduction.

U.S. District Court judge orders new review for jaguar habitat. By Arthur H. Rotstein. AP in the Arizona Republic.

News release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

– – – – – –

Earlier on this blog. Whither a recovery plan for the jaguar?

Obama signs the omnibus public lands bill

Channels Bush and adds a presidential signing statement-
Updates to 4-2. State specific information added at end of post

There was much rejoicing as the President signed the Omnibus Public Lands Bill, usually and incorrectly called the giant new “wilderness bill.”

It does add 2-million acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System, but it does many other things, including protect 1.2 million acres of the Salt River Range, Wyoming Range, and Commissary Ridge areas in Western Wyoming from oil and gas leasing (and hence drilling). These areas will not be managed as Wilderness, although as a result of the bill, large parts of them will remain roadless. Drilling in these scenic, but unstable, wildlife rich areas would cause immense devastation. They still suffer from excessive livestock grazing.

The bill also designates new Wild and Scenic Rivers, including the first in dry Utah, where building dams on rivers has been a tradition. To win support for the bill, money was provided to study the rebuilding of the Teton Dam in Eastern Idaho, which failed catastrophically in 1976 when it was first being filled after a long fight with conservation groups who predicted it would not hold water. I should note that fighting this dam was my first major conservation issue.

There are 500,000 of new official Wilderness in Idaho and 316 miles of wild and scenic rivers  included in the larger Owyhee Canyonlands bill. This bill has sparked conflict among conservation groups, not because it designates Wilderness, but because it also releases to livestock development a number of roadless areas, plus other provisions. I have heard that the bill did undergo some improvement in the U.S. Senate when it was “cleaned up” by Committee Staff.

They had to kill the jaguar to save the jaguar

USFWS and Arizona Game and Fish in a sloppy screw-up?

An interesting article today in Demarcated Landscapes.

Update. Jaguar may have experienced ‘capture myopathy’. Necropsy by zoo inconclusive, two outside vets say. By Tim Steller. Arizona Daily Star

Update 4/2. I baited jaguar trap, research worker says. Attorney general opens investigation into capture. Biologist denies telling worker to use scat to lure cat.  State claimed Macho B’s capture was inadvertent. By Tony Davis and Tim Steller. Arizona Daily Star.

Update 4/2. Grijalva calls for federal investigation of jaguar’s death. B. POOLE and RYN GARGULINSKI. Tucson Citizen

Whither a recovery plan for the jaguar?

Jaguar court fight centers on habitat. By Tony Davis. Arizona Daily Star

Can the jaguar be recovered in the United States or must efforts be focused further to the south?

– – – – – –
Michael Robinson on the lawsuit for a recovery plan and critical habitat for the jaguar. Center for Biological Diversity video.

Good news. Western Watersheds Project Wins Appeal Of Grazing Decision On 412,000 Acres Of Arizona Desert

This helps makes up a bit for the bad news on wolves today-

Tucson, Arizona

Today, a federal judge reversed the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to allow livestock grazing on 412,000 acres of public land managed by the Bureau’s Kingman Field Office. Saying, “Cattle are not ghosts. They are bigger and heavier than any native wildlife,” Administrative Law Judge Andrew Pearlstein admonished the BLM for not sufficiently considering the impacts of cattle grazing on four livestock allotments before issuing the permit.

The judge determined that the BLM failed to justify any economic need for the decision, failed to provide any site-specific information on fences, watering sites and other range developments, failed to consider retiring the area from grazing, and failed to meaningfully analyze the potential environmental impacts of grazing on annual ephemeral vegetation. Western Watersheds Project (WWP) had raised all of these points in its appeal of the decision in October of 2008.

The four allotments – Planet, Primrose, Alamo Crossing, and Crossman Peak- have not been grazed for 18 to 25 years. The area includes two federally-designated Wildernesses, the Bill Williams River, and habitat for desert tortoise, bald eagle, and bighorn sheep. Additionally, hundreds of archeological sites have been recorded within the allotments. The region receives just 3 to 7 inches of rain a year and summer temperatures reach near 110 degrees.

“We’re pleased that the Judge recognized the detrimental effect of livestock on soils, vegetation, and riparian areas. It is great that such a large expanse of desert will continue to be spared those impacts,” said Greta Anderson, Arizona Director of Western Watersheds Project. “It’s also a good reminder to the Arizona BLM that they have a statutory obligation under the National Environmental Policy Act to take a hard look at their proposed actions.”

Western Watersheds Project works throughout the west to restore watersheds and wildlife. http://www.westernwatersheds.org/

Judge Pearlstein’s Order can be found at WWP’s web site at this URL: http://www.westernwatersheds.org/legal/09/az/alj_kingman_decision.pdf

2008 Mexican wolf count official — 52 wolves

2008 was a year of no growth. It ended with 2 breeding pairs of wolves-

Update (2/6/09) Feds: Killings hamper Mexican wolf population – AP

Update (2/6/09) CBD Press Release – Mexican Wolf Breeding Pairs Drop to Two in 2008: Federal Trapping and Shooting Brings Reintroduced Population of Endangered Species to Brink of Collapse

~ be

Here is the news release from USFWS

– – – – –

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Southwest Region (Arizona ● New Mexico ● Oklahoma ●Texas) http://southwest.fws.gov

Public Affairs Office; PO Box 1306

Albuquerque, NM 87103

505/248-6911

505/248-6915 (Fax)

News Release

For Release: February 6, 2009

Contacts: Jeff Humphrey, 505-248-6909 or 602-680-0853

2008 MEXICAN WOLF POPULATION SURVEY COMPLETE

A total of 52 Mexican wolves were counted in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico at the end of 2008, according to the annual survey conducted by the Interagency Field Team for wolf reintroduction. There were also 52 Mexican wolves recorded in the 2007 survey. Surveys are conducted in January of each year. Pups born in the summer must survive to December 31 to be counted as part of the Mexican wolf population. Fixed-wing aircraft and functional radio-telemetry were used to confirm five wolf packs on New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, five packs on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, and six lone wolves – two in Arizona and four in New Mexico. The survey indicated that there were only two pairs that met the federal definition of breeding pairs at year’s end.

Of the 52 wolves, 45 were born in the wild. One captive born female wolf (F836) was released to the wild in 2008. In 2008, one wolf was temporarily captured twice after dispersing outside of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, but the animal was translocated back into the recovery area on both occasions. In previous years, wolves were removed because of livestock depredation, for dispersing outside of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area or repeated nuisance behavior. No such wolves were removed in 2008. Illegal shooting was the leading cause of documented loss of wolves in 2008.

Cattle denude the Sonoran National Monument

ORVs were kicked out of monument; the real damage is grazing-

This is apparently, though a good place to find the bleached bones of cattle, a common visual theme of cartoons of people lost in the desert.

Inane official, public actions scar Sonoran monument. By Linda Valdez. The Arizona Republic

– – – –

Update. Link to WWP Arizona Office. Great photo of cattle in Sonoran Desert National Monument 😦

Western Watersheds Project beats plan to increase grazing in Arizona’s Whetstone Mtns.

Water developments for cows are beaten back-

Water developments on public lands may sound good, but the reality is they are almost always intended to increase grazing of livestock.

These encasements, troughs, tanks, and pipelines do not benefit wildlife. Instead they often turn a spring, or an area of small springs or seeps, full of wildlife, into manure-mud, disgusting ponds that are surrounded solely by cattle.

Story in the Western Watersheds Blog. Win for the Whetstones.
Map of the Whetstone Mountains