Reclassifying them to a threatened designation will allow greater flexibility in wolf management than would be possible under an endangered designation. This is a necessary element in a region where more than 85 percent of the land is in private ownership. Several centuries ago, the gray wolf lived throughout the Northern Forest on 26 million acres that stretches from the northern woods of Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont, and into the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Aggressive extermination programs in the early part of this century, combined with loss of habitat, led to the wolf's disappearance from the region. The last known wolf to be seen in New York was killed in 1897 and in Maine in 1909.
Wolves add an important dimension and a critical diversity to wildlife populations everywhere.
The Fish and Wildlife Service also announced proposals to reclassify from endangered to threatened all naturally occurring wolves in the Northern Rockies, Wisconsin and Michigan while continuing to classify Minnesota wolves as threatened pending review of a Minnesota wolf management plan. NWF is broadly supportive of these proposals and is urging expanded efforts on both the federal and state levels to return wolves to suitable habitat in western states in addition to Montana, Wyoming and Idaho where they now exist. The Federation is withholding complete comment on the Northeast recovery proposal until it has fully reviewed the details set out in the plan. However, Palola stressed that flexibility in designing and implementing a wolf management and restoration plan, attention to the concerns of people who earn their livelihood from the land, and building public support through the early and continuing involvement of diverse groups, will all be critical to the success of wolf recovery here and across the nation. We're confident that one day, we'll once again be able to hear the wolf's howl that's been absent from the Northeast for too long.