Wolf reintroduction continues to spur controversy
Do wolves belong in the Adirondacks? All the answers aren't in yet
By JEFF MEYERS, Staff Writer
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- There's little doubt that wolves were once natural predators roaming the wild forests of the Adirondack Mountain region.
But should wolves be returned to the Adirondack Park, and how would they fare if reintroduced?
Those questions have stirred controversy here: Proponents view the wolf as the region's natural top predator, whose presence would add to the park's heritage; opponents fear the negative impact the wolf may have on a region with a significant human population.
"Many, many questions need to be answered if the wolf is ever to be reintroduced," said Phil Brown, editor for Adirondack Explorer magazine, who spoke on the subject during a recent Plattsburgh Noon Rotary Club luncheon.
"The basic question is why? Why would we want to restore wolves?"
Supporters of a wolf-restoration program believe the wolf should be the top predator to complete the region's natural ecosystem. But opponents feel the coyote is already a major predator that fills the role the wolf played in pre-settlement days.
Coyotes did not move into the area until the 1900s, after wolves had been killed off. The eastern coyote now prevalent in the Adirondacks is much larger than its western cousin, suggesting that the coyote has interbred with wolves.
"Given the size and success of the coyote, wolf advocates must do a better job of explaining why we need another canid," Brown said. "Studies need to be done to determine how the return of the wolf would benefit the ecosystem."
But then, more has to be known about what kind of wolf actually existed in the Adirondacks, he added.
"The Algonquin wolf from Ontario is the closest wolf, so it would stand to reason that that's the one," he said. "But no one knows for certain. Was it the gray wolf, the red wolf, a hybrid wolf?"
The Algonquin wolf may actually be a subspecies of the gray wolf, but it also has red-wolf genes, suggesting that red and gray wolves could have bred somewhere along the line to create the Algonquin species.
There is also evidence that the Algonquin wolf has interbred with coyotes, creating some more concerns for the reintroduction of wolves into the Adirondacks.
"Some of these species may very well breed with coyotes, and they would eventually lose their identity (if reintroduced into the park)," Brown said.
"The gray wolf of Yellowstone Park and northern Quebec does not breed with coyotes and would actually suppress the local coyote population. But was it the gray wolf that lived here?"
The answers to those questions could be found with evidence identifying what wolf did live in the park, but who knows when and if that evidence will ever be found, he added.
The wolf has already won one battle in its quest to return to former hunting grounds. On two separate occasions, courts have recently ruled that wolves should remain on the endangered-species list in the northeast.
That means that any wolves that happen to wander into the Adirondacks are protected by law. If wolves from Ontario or states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota expand their territories, a reintroduction plan may become moot.
In the 1990s, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation took a serious look at reintroducing moose into the Adirondacks, but that plan was met unfavorably by park residents and eventually dismissed.
However, moose have come back on their own and now have a viable population in the Adirondacks.
That could also happen with the wolf, Brown points out.
"We are a long way from the day when wolves might be released into the wilds of the Adirondacks or northeastern Maine," he said. "There are many questions, both political and biological, that need to be addressed before we reach that day."
E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com
Press-Republican
By JEFF MEYERS, Staff Writer
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- There's little doubt that wolves were once natural predators roaming the wild forests of the Adirondack Mountain region.
But should wolves be returned to the Adirondack Park, and how would they fare if reintroduced?
Those questions have stirred controversy here: Proponents view the wolf as the region's natural top predator, whose presence would add to the park's heritage; opponents fear the negative impact the wolf may have on a region with a significant human population.
"Many, many questions need to be answered if the wolf is ever to be reintroduced," said Phil Brown, editor for Adirondack Explorer magazine, who spoke on the subject during a recent Plattsburgh Noon Rotary Club luncheon.
"The basic question is why? Why would we want to restore wolves?"
Supporters of a wolf-restoration program believe the wolf should be the top predator to complete the region's natural ecosystem. But opponents feel the coyote is already a major predator that fills the role the wolf played in pre-settlement days.
Coyotes did not move into the area until the 1900s, after wolves had been killed off. The eastern coyote now prevalent in the Adirondacks is much larger than its western cousin, suggesting that the coyote has interbred with wolves.
"Given the size and success of the coyote, wolf advocates must do a better job of explaining why we need another canid," Brown said. "Studies need to be done to determine how the return of the wolf would benefit the ecosystem."
But then, more has to be known about what kind of wolf actually existed in the Adirondacks, he added.
"The Algonquin wolf from Ontario is the closest wolf, so it would stand to reason that that's the one," he said. "But no one knows for certain. Was it the gray wolf, the red wolf, a hybrid wolf?"
The Algonquin wolf may actually be a subspecies of the gray wolf, but it also has red-wolf genes, suggesting that red and gray wolves could have bred somewhere along the line to create the Algonquin species.
There is also evidence that the Algonquin wolf has interbred with coyotes, creating some more concerns for the reintroduction of wolves into the Adirondacks.
"Some of these species may very well breed with coyotes, and they would eventually lose their identity (if reintroduced into the park)," Brown said.
"The gray wolf of Yellowstone Park and northern Quebec does not breed with coyotes and would actually suppress the local coyote population. But was it the gray wolf that lived here?"
The answers to those questions could be found with evidence identifying what wolf did live in the park, but who knows when and if that evidence will ever be found, he added.
The wolf has already won one battle in its quest to return to former hunting grounds. On two separate occasions, courts have recently ruled that wolves should remain on the endangered-species list in the northeast.
That means that any wolves that happen to wander into the Adirondacks are protected by law. If wolves from Ontario or states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota expand their territories, a reintroduction plan may become moot.
In the 1990s, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation took a serious look at reintroducing moose into the Adirondacks, but that plan was met unfavorably by park residents and eventually dismissed.
However, moose have come back on their own and now have a viable population in the Adirondacks.
That could also happen with the wolf, Brown points out.
"We are a long way from the day when wolves might be released into the wilds of the Adirondacks or northeastern Maine," he said. "There are many questions, both political and biological, that need to be addressed before we reach that day."
E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com
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