由美國各級公務員所組成的非營利組織「環境責任公職人員組織」（Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility，PEER）22日揭露一項聯邦公報草稿，內容指出歐巴馬政府曾計劃將灰狼從瀕危物種法案中除名，不過此計劃目前暫緩。
政府並未公佈此計劃無限期延後的原因，2010年8月討論此計劃的會議記錄中也沒有記載。22日環境責任公職人員組織提起訴訟，以取得相關會議記錄。
此聯邦公報草稿欲將灰狼從聯邦受威脅及瀕臨絕種物種名單中剔除，但墨西哥狼仍被列為瀕臨絕種。墨西哥狼沒有任何受保護的棲息地，野外數量已經不到100隻。
在聯邦與州政府間名為「結構決策」（Structured Decision Making，SDM）的一系列會議中，此舉是官員們所謂的「國家狼群策略」的最高潮。部落領袖們則婉拒了會議邀請。
2012年4月，PEER依資訊自由法向漁業暨野生動物局提出正式要求，索取SDM系列會議所有的會議記錄、文宣和決策文件。依法漁業暨野生動物局須於20個工作天內提供紀錄，但是一年過去了，PEER卻沒收到任何資料。
22日PEER在美國哥倫比亞地方法院提出訴訟，以法律行動要求漁業暨野生動物局提供SDM相關文件。
美國研究狼群的權威學者們曾寫信質疑將灰狼從瀕危名單上剔除的科學基礎。對此，PEER執行長Jeff Ruch表示，「依照法律，瀕危物種法案的決策應由科學主導，而不是由利益主導」。「政客們比灰狼還可怕。」
為了證實灰狼除名議題上政治凌駕科學的決策過程，22日PEER也公佈了16位科學家寫給新任國內資源部部長Sally Jewell和漁業暨野生動物局局長Dan Ashe的信件，信件內容指出，「我們對於將灰狼從全國瀕危物種法案保護名單中剔除，表達嚴重關切...」。
這群肉食動物和保育生態學界專家們寫道，「我們代表多位草案參考文獻的作者，仔細審閱這項草案後，認為此草案並非根據我們的研究結論，或目前科學界狼群復育的最佳研究結果所擬出，也不符合瀕危動物法案保育瀕危動物和其生態系統的精神。」
科學家們指出，除名草案最大的問題是忽略了狼群這類肉食動物對其棲息地生態系統的重要性。
「灰狼保育起步緩慢，在棲息地出沒的範圍也越來越小。漁業暨野生動物局的草案忽略了許多科學結果，包括狼群的棲息地在太平洋西北地區、加州、南落磯山脈和東北部，也未考量到這些地區對狼群生存和復育的長期性和重要性，以及狼群在這些地區生態系統所扮演的重要角色。」科學家們指出，「狼群和大型肉食動物滅絕是全球性的現象，造成嚴重的生態後果。越來越多研究顯示，食物鏈頂端的掠食動物對於維持其他野生動物多樣性和生態系統至關重要。在黃石公園進行的研究發現，移入狼群改變了駝鹿數量和行為，進而促進了河岸植物生長，對水獺、魚類和鳴禽帶來正面效益。透過各種方式，狼群可說是豐富了北美的地貌。」
「狼群對生態系統極為重要，而且狼群復育僅在部分地區剛起步，針對漁業暨野生動物局將灰狼從全國保護名單中除名的提案，希望您能三思。」科學家們寫道。
面對灰狼復育條件等科學問題，PEER指控「國家狼群策略」只想尋求政治和經濟上的解決方案，也未考慮到灰狼過去的活動範圍內，合適的棲息地已經越來越少。
「這個黑箱作業缺乏公正性。沒有獨立的科學家參與，更不要說學術基礎。」Ruch說，「難怪漁業暨野生動物局不想公佈這個草案。」
非營利組織「野生動物守護者」會長Jamie Rappaport Clark，在柯林頓執政時期曾任漁業暨野生動物局局長。
Clark說，「美國過去40年來，對於瀕危物種復育一直保持樂觀積極的態度，灰狼除名草案完全違背了這種精神。這個草案反映了短視近利的生態復育觀念。漁業暨野生動物局非常草率地決定放棄狼群保育工作，完全沒有想要達成復育目標的企圖心。」
上週，Clark和生物多樣性中心、地球正義、瀕危物種聯盟、自然資源保護委員會和山巒協會等5個環境組織的領導人一同致函國內資源部部長Jewell，要求他重新考慮除名草案。
信中寫道，「維持聯邦層級的狼群保護是復育的基礎」。信中提到，在取消聯邦保護令的州內，北落磯山脈地區發生未經授權的狼群屠殺事件，「地方政策對狼群越來越不友善，影響灰狼生存。」
2011年，愛達荷、蒙大拿和懷俄明州將狼從保護名單中剔除後，這些位於北落磯山脈地區的州共有1,100隻狼遭殺害。
漁業暨野生動物局解釋，灰狼從1930年代起在美國西部絕跡。後來大眾對掠食動物的態度漸漸改變，1973年瀕危物種法案通過，狼群開始受到法律保護。
1986年，加拿大狼群偶然間往南移動，成功地在蒙大拿州西北方繁殖。1995至1996年間，66隻來自加拿大西南方的狼被移入黃石公園和愛達荷州中部。
漁業暨野生動物局指出，狼群的復育目標是讓蒙大拿、愛達荷和懷俄明州三個復育區的狼群總數達300隻、繁殖配偶30對，並且維持連續三年，而此目標已經於2002年達成。
The Obama Administration's plan to remove the gray wolf from the protections of the Endangered Species Act, as detailed in a draft Federal Register notice released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER, is temporarily on hold.
The reasons for the indefinite delay announced this week were not revealed nor were the records of closed-door meetings to craft this plan that began in August 2010.
Today a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain the records from those meetings was filed by PEER, a nonprofit national alliance of local, state and federal resource professionals.
The draft Federal Register notice would strike the gray wolf from the federal list of threatened or endangered species but would keep endangered status for the Mexican wolf. No protected habitat would be delineated for the Mexican wolf, of which fewer than 100 remain in the wild.
This step is the culmination of what officials call their National Wolf Strategy, developed in a series of federal-state meetings called Structured Decision Making, SDM. Tribal representatives declined to participate.
On April 30, 2012, PEER submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for all SDM meeting notes, handouts and decision documents. More than a year later, the agency has not produced any of the requested records, despite a legal requirement that the records be produced within 20 working days.
Today, PEER filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to obtain all of the SDM documents.
"By law, Endangered Species Act decisions are supposed to be governed by the best available science, not the best available deal," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, pointing to a letter from the nation's leading wolf researchers challenging the scientific basis for the de-listing plan.
"The politics surrounding this predator's legal status have been as fearsome as the reputation of the gray wolf itself," said Ruch.
To support its argument that politics trumps science in deciding how to handle the nation's wolves, PEER also made public today a letter from 16 scientists to the new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe expressing "serious concerns with a recent draft rule leaked to the press that proposes to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 States…"
"Collectively, we represent many of the scientists responsible for the research referenced in the draft rule," wrote the scientists, who specialize in carnivores and conservation biology. "Based on a careful review of the rule, we do not believe that the rule reflects the conclusions of our work or the best available science concerning the recovery of wolves, or is in accordance with the fundamental purpose of the Endangered Species Act to conserve endangered species and the ecosystems upon which they depend."
Among other problems with the delisting proposal, the scientists say it ignores the positive influence of large carnivores such as wolves on the ecosystems they inhabit.
"The gray wolf has barely begun to recover or is absent from significant portions of its former range where substantial suitable habitat remains. The Service's draft rule fails to consider science identifying extensive suitable habitat in the Pacific Northwest, California, the southern Rocky Mountains and the Northeast. It also fails to consider the importance of these areas to the long-term survival and recovery of wolves, or the importance of wolves to the ecosystems of these regions," the scientists wrote.
Gray wolf shot by a ranch manager in Montana (Photo by Pam Frasier)
"The extirpation of wolves and large carnivores from large portions of the landscape is a global phenomenon with broad ecological consequences," the scientists wrote. "There is a growing body of scientific literature demonstrating that top predators play critical roles in maintaining a diversity of other wildlife species and as such the composition and function of ecosystems. Research in Yellowstone National Park, for example, found that reintroduction of wolves caused changes in elk numbers and behavior which then facilitated recovery of vegetation, benefitting beavers, fish and songbirds. In this and other ways, wolves shape North American landscapes."
"Given the importance of wolves and the fact that they have only just begun to recover in some regions and not at all in others," the scientists wrote, "we hope you will reconsider the Service's proposal to remove protections across most of the United States."
PEER charges that the resulting National Wolf Strategy used political and economic factors to predetermine the answer to scientific questions, such as the biological recovery requirements for wolves and ruling out areas in states within the species' historical range which lack sufficient suitable habitat.
"This closed-door process lacked not only transparency but also integrity. It involved no independent scientists, let alone peer reviewed findings," Ruch said. "It is not surprising that the Fish and Wildlife Service does not want to see this laundry airing in the public domain."
Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife, is a former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service who served during the Clinton Administration.
"The gray wolf delisting proposal represents a major retreat from the optimism and values which have been the hallmark of endangered species recovery in this country for the past 40 years," says Clark. "Instead, the proposal reflects a short-sighted, shrunken and much weaker vision of what our conservation goals should be. The Service has clearly decided to prematurely get out of the wolf conservation business rather than working to achieve full recovery of the species."
Clark and five other heads of environmental organizations – Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, Endangered Species Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club – last week sent a letter to Secretary Jewell asking that she reconsider the nationwide wolf delisting plan.
"Maintaining federal protections for wolves is essential for continued species recovery," the letter says, adding that the unwarranted assault on wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains after wolves in those states lost federal protections highlights the "increasingly hostile anti-wolf policies of states now charged with ensuring the survival of gray wolf populations."
Since wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming were delisted in 2011, more than 1,100 wolves have been killed in these Northern Rockies states.
Gray wolf populations were extirpated from the western United Stated by the 1930s, explains the Fish and Wildlife Service. Public attitudes towards predators changed and wolves received legal protection with the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973.
Subsequently, wolves from Canada occasionally dispersed south and successfully began recolonizing northwest Montana in 1986. In 1995 and 1996, 66 wolves from southwestern Canada were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho.
Recovery goals of an equitably distributed wolf population containing at least 300 wolves and 30 breeding pairs in three recovery areas within Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming for at least three consecutive years were reached in 2002, according to the Service.
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