Article, including video, here:
http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20130918bring-tough-wolf-hearing-arizona-editorial.html
Our View: Debate will be tough, but Arizona should host it
By Editorial boardThe Republic | azcentral.comFri Sep 20, 2013 12:38 PM
The reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves to Arizona is a victory that requires more nurturing to become a true triumph. We need more wolves and an expanded recovery area.
Arizona’s role is undeniable. Primary releases occur in our state, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department played a key role in management efforts.
It is ridiculous that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not schedule hearings in Arizona to discuss proposed changes in the program.
Hearings are planned for this month in Washington, D.C., and next month in Sacramento, Calif., and Albuquerque, N.M.
Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain and Rep. Paul Gosar sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewel requesting a hearing in our state. Arizona’s Game and Fish Commission wants the same thing.
It makes sense.
Establishing a healthy population of lobos in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico has been fraught with controversy.
Some ranchers don’t like accommodating the public’s desire to restore wolves to public land that is also used for grazing.
Some environmentalists are dissatisfied with wolf management that resulted in many wolves being killed or removed.
A hearing in Arizona means passionate debate. That’s fine. Nobody said this was easy.
Arizona deserves a continued voice in the worthwhile effort to reintroduce Mexican wolves.
Exposing the Big Game 
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Sept. 30th hearing in DC is for all Wolves in the lower 48. This preserves Mexican Wolve’s ESA status, while stripping all other Gray Wolves, pronouncing them restored. This is the last chance to talk with officials on the East Coast.
Since Mexican Wolves are now said to be a subspecies of Gray Wolves, unless you disagree with that or keeping them protected, you already have protected status under the ESA and restoration will continue. I highly doubt if they will be willing to arrange any new meetings now? If you want to talk to them about strictly Mexican Wolves, then it would be up to the departments involved to decide when and where to hold meetings, but your reps are there to speak for you, so see if their offices can arrange some kind of compromise for a mutually agreed upon location. It will work better if both states cooperate in the best interest of the Lobos, in the true spirit and intent of the ESA. The wolf community can not afford anything less than solidarity at this grave time in the history of Gray Wolves in America.
The Oct. 4 meeting in Albuquerque will consider revisions to the Mexican wolf program as well as the general status of the ESA wolf program. Since Rancher-Democrat Senator Jon Tester eliminated protection for the entire wolf species (Canis lupus), the program now has to be redefined to retain protection for the Mexican wolf subspecies (Canis lupus baileyi). Unfortunately, as noted in the article, US Fish & Wildlife Service still intends to defer to the Arizona Game Department on this issue (the NM Game Department makes no attempt to hide its opposition to protecting wolves), as well as leaving the notorious USDA Wildlife Services in charge of deciding which wolves are to be killed for threatening livestock.
Thanks for the info
Marc, yes you have a problem there. More pointedly, you have some ranchers that don’t want to learn modern, non-lethal wolf coexistance methods. By choosing WS to make decisions, they have sent a message loud and clear… nothing changes. Poor little wolves don’t stand a chance with that arrangement. How frustrating! They act like it is 125 years ago! There is perhaps a better choice for NM, seeing as there are so few wolves now, who decides and speaks for them should be a friend to them. Certainly not the ‘wack squad’. Native People need to have a say. Everyone involved should have a say. I think rather than WS, perhaps the state vet or public lands manager would do a better job? Bottom line is you do have a say, it’s critical to get pro-wolf people to attend the meetings. And make a plan to co manage the wolf decisions. Good luck with all of this. It is very clear USFWS WANTS TO RID THEMSELVES OF WOLVES!