RESTORATION OF WOLVES, COUGARS AND LYNX  IN NYS

At a public hearing on June 29, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS-DEC) official Mr. Joe Racette, Coordinator of the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) ⁽¹⁾, said that in the DEC “our priority is restoration of large carnivores,” but “this quest is not socially acceptable.” ⁽²⁾ So to accomplish this goal, Mr. Racette said the DEC is working on habitat ‘connectivity’ and ‘corridors’ for migration of large mammals.  This DEC plan was exposed by Carol LaGrasse (President of the Property Rights Foundation of America) in her Fall 2015 issue⁽²⁾ of the New York Property Rights Clearing House. Mrs. LaGrasse attended the public hearing where she heard Mr. Racette make the statements above. The DEC works to create large ‘wild habitat corridors’ that traverse from Canada, through New York south to Georgia providing migration routes for large carnivores and other mammals. This plan is also documented on page 9 of the NYS-DEC website for the State Wildlife Action Plan, SWAP⁽¹⁾. which specifically says, “The CWCS included wolves, cougars, and lynx as SGCN (Species of Greatest Conservation Need)  and recommended studies to evaluate the feasibility of reintroducing these extirpated species to New York”…. ”The SWAP recommends actions to foster regional habitat connectivity, which will facilitate natural recolonization of New York by these extirpated large carnivores as conditions permit. Therefore the DEC recommends actions to foster regional habitat connectivity, which will facilitate restoration of large carnivores naturally.  An online summary⁽³⁾ of the (2010) SWAP plan refers to restoring ‘large mammals’ with no specific mention of the ten-year goal of restoring wolves, cougars, and lynx.

Furthermore, former DEC Assistant Commissioner Christopher A. Amato’s wrote a letter on June 20, 2011 to the US Fish and Wildlife Service attempting  to persuade the agency to declare wolves that slip into NYS as federally protected⁽¹⁾. According to Appendix 6 of the NYS-DEC 2005 Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy⁽⁴⁾ the last cougar, wolf and lynx disappeared around the turn of the twentieth century from the Adirondack region. A large-scale release of lynx into the Adirondacks during the late 1980's failed to result in the establishment of a population in NYS.  Obviously, our state wishes to restore these once indigenous, extirpated and dangerous carnivores in NYS—in spite of public opposition.

DEC’s publication on forest connectivity is part of the New York State Forest Resource Assessment and Strategy 2010-2015⁽⁵⁾ and it describes goals and plans for local governments, planning boards, zoning laws and special local bodies to create OPEN SPACE maps of entire towns to be reviewed by the DEC for guidance on conservation and protection of wild habitat from development.  This connection with local governments in seen in the Governor's Local Open Space Planning Guide (2007)⁽⁶⁾ and the 2009 New York State Open Space  Conservation Plan⁽⁷⁾ by Department of State and the NYS-DEC. These Open Space Plans provide guidelines for the protection and/or creation of existing and new forest lands, wildlife habitat and large mammal migration corridors so that local planning boards, towns, municipalities, zoning boards can participate in the State’s Open Space program. The question is, do the citizens and planning boards understand that the inevitable result of protecting Open Spaces to create and protect wildlife habitat and migration corridors according to the guideline of the DEC will eventually bring large carnivores into the State? Predators like wolves and cougars.

DEC’s plan to quietly restore large carnivores seems hard the understand, but it appears to be real, and if so, it ought to be exposed and vigorously opposed on two grounds: 1. experience shows that the restoration of wolves and cougars (and possibly lynx) will likely lead to very bad results -- i.e., the killing of farm animals, pets, wildlife including deer, and likely eventually humans⁽⁸⁾, and 2. the plan is violation of public trust by government because it endeavors to quietly restore large predators without public awareness or support. Endorsement by professors, environmental or stakeholder groups and NGOs does not constitute citizen support.   

Why should people believe it right to imprison dangerous people, but restore and protect dangerous animals?

FOOTNOTES (1-8)

 (1) SWAP:  2015 New York State Wildlife Action Plan-September 2015. NYS-Department of Environmental Conservation.

 file:///C:/DOCUME~1/George/LOCALS~1/Temp/swapfinaldraft2015.pdf

(2) LaGrasse, Carol. 2015.  DEC’s real priority: Restoration of large predators. Wolves and cougars are the secret heart of the State’s Wildlife Plan. New York Property Rights Clearing House (Vol 19, No 2, pages 1-8), Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc., PO Box 75, Stoney Creek, NY 12878. Tel. 518-696-5748. Web Site: prfamerica.org.

(3) Website: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/spsfmsummary.pdf

http://www.dec,ny,gov/docs/lands_forest_pdf/sfconnectivity.pdf

http://www.dec,ny,gov/lands/64567.htlm

(4) Appendix 6—Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (September 27, 2005)

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/appendixa6.pdf   [See especially pages 6-10 about large mammals including wolves and mountain lions]

(5) New York State Forest Resource Assessment and Strategy 2010-2015, YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION. (see pages1,12, 115, 138-139, 147)

SOURCE WEBSITE:  http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/fras070110.pdf

(6) Local Open Space Planning Guide. 2007. Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor, NYS Department of State, Division of Local Government, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Reprinted  from May 2004.   https://www.dos.ny.gov/lg/publications/Local_Open_Space_Planning_Guide.pdf

(7) 2009 New York State Open Space Conservation Plan. Open Space Conservation Plan

625 Broadway, 5th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-4250.  241 pages.

http://nysparks.com/inside-our-agency/documents/NYSOpenSpaceConservationPlan.pdf

(8) Dr. Valerius Geist, professor of environmental science and biology at the University of Calgary showed that wolves are a major threat to farm animals, dogs and other pets, and can kill great numbers of desirable wildlife such as deer, moose, and elk, and even people.  Dr. Geist validated that a man was recently killed by wolves -- a 22-year-old engineering student at the University of Waterloo when in northern Saskatchewan on November 8, 2005. This fatality and many other great harms caused by wolves received thorough investigation as reported in chapter 23 of an investigative book: The Real Wolf: The Science, Politics, and Economics of Co-Existing with Wolves in Modern Times, by Ted B. Lyon and Will N. Graves (Far Country Press, Helena, Mt.).


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Last update 3.17.16