Cheyenne's Howl
Printed in Mountain Messenger on Friday - February 6, 1998
Yellowstone Re-Introduction Part III
This is part three of the history of the wolf and its reintroduction
into Yellowstone.
1992-
The first EIS,
(environmental impact statement), drew strong support from wolf
advocates. Defenders of Wildlife set up a "Vote Wolf" booth in
Yellowstone Park and collected signatures from visitors in support of
us wolves. Congress then directed the various agencies to finish the
EIS by January 1994.
1993-
The draft
of the Yellowstone Park wolf EIS was released on July 1. Mostly
favorable comments were received from the public hearings. Defenders of
Wildlife delivered over seventy thousand ballots to the Secretary of
the Interior, and all but about two thousand were pro-wolf. Yellowstone
Park and Idaho wolf reintroduction was proposed for October 1994 by the
Fish and Wildlife Service.
1994-
The final
EIS was issued and on June 15, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed
the EIS record of decision. Final rules for the management of the
Yellowstone and Idaho reintroduced wolves were issued on November 22 by
the Fish and Wildlife Service. Three days later, claiming "irreparable
harm" to ranchers, the Wyoming Farm Bureau filed suit to stop the
reintroduction plans.
1995-
On January
3 the preliminary injunction sought by the Wyoming Farm Bureau was
denied by U.S. District Judge William Downes in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The
government began shipping wild wolves on January 11. These wolves came
to the U.S. from Alberta, Canada. Not giving up, the Farm Bureau won a
temporary stay from the federal appellate court in Denver, Colorado. It
was on January 12 that eight of my Canadian cousins arrived in
Yellowstone. In a future article I will tell you more on how my cousins
suffered because of the Farm Bureaus request for the stay order. Once
the stay order was lifted by the appellate court, my cousins were
finally released from their cramped travel containers and placed in
acclimation pens. It was on January 14 that four of my cousins were
released in the Frank Church, River of no Return Wilderness in Idaho.
Six more cousins reached Yellowstone Park on January 20 and that same
day eleven more were released again in the Idaho wilderness. It wasn't
until March 21 that the Park Service began to release my fourteen
cousins from their acclimation pens. They were now free to roam the
wilds of Yellowstone National Park, or at least so they thought.
Dec 12, 1997-
Friday, December
12, 1997-Once again there is a ruling against the wolves that have been
released in Yellowstone National Park and in central Idaho. Claiming
that these wolves were reintroduced illegally almost three years ago,
Judge William Downes of the U.S. Court in Cheyenne, Wyoming, ruled that
the "reintroduced nonnative wolves and their offspring" must be removed
from the reintroduction areas. It looks like the Farm Bureau is at it
again. They convinced the judge to make his ruling based on a technical
interpretation of definitions of species. Fortunately the judge stayed
his order pending the expected appeal.
More next week.
Cheyenne
