Dear Supporter of Wolves,
Thank you for your generous support to protect and restore wolves. With your help Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project continues to build a community of welcome for when wolves return to the Grand Canyon Region. We envision -- and we know you do too -- a future where a robust population of wild wolves roam freely and safely across our region’s landscape. Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project (GCWRP) remains committed to this dream.
As you likely know, the newly released U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Mexican wolf recovery plan does not truly address the needs of wolves in the wild, limiting both numbers of wolves and size of recovery area. Even though, with our help, thousands of citizens submitted positive comments in support of wolf recovery, politics once again trumped science. The plan does little to ensure wolf recovery and once again Mexican wolves will not be allowed to roam north of Interstate 40.
We must be vigilant and continue to keep wolf supporters informed about future actions taken by USFWS and Arizona Game & Fish Department that hamper wolf recovery.
Last year we asked you for your support and you came through. With your help in 2017 we:
- Met with the Superintendent and senior staff members of Grand Canyon National Park to outline the importance of commenting on the recovery plan. The Park agreed and submitted comments voicing support for wolf recovery in the Grand Canyon region. They acknowledged that Mexican wolves are a native, endangered species that belong and will welcome and help protect any wolf that disperses onto National Park Service property under their authority.
- Presented a letter to USFWS signed by over 60 business leaders from the Grand Canyon region who support wolf recovery for the ecological and economic benefits that wolves can provide to the region.
These are huge important accomplishments that we can ALL be proud of, but now more than ever we must monitor the USFWS as well as the Arizona Game & Fish Department (AZGFD) to ensure more wolves are released in the wild, to highlight the plight of wolves that disperse outside the recovery boundaries, and to protest the removal of wolves -- for whatever reason -- from the wild. Please help us with this critical work.
GCWRP is committed to wolf recovery through mobilizing our entire community to take action and speak up for wolves. We are tough and we worked hard in 2017. Here are some of the ways we engaged our community and advocated for wolves:
- We hosted 16 outreach tables and gave 17 presentations to educate people about wolves at schools, events, meetings and camps throughout the area.
- This summer, over 50 wolf supporters rallied outside of a USFWS public meeting in Flagstaff and several thousands more submitted public comments calling for a new Mexican wolf recovery plan that includes suitable habitat in the Grand Canyon region.
- There were 20 letters to the editor, editorials, op-eds, news articles, radio stories and other media hits on wolf recovery issues published in regional media this year, including two of our press releases related to the recovery plan that were picked up and distributed widely by the Associated Press.
- We collaborated with many other organizations on providing educational opportunities regarding wolf recovery throughout the region.
We are constantly exploring new and creative ways to educate and engage our community. Here are three events that helped broaden our outreach and enlivened our educational efforts:
- During our fifth annual campout at Big Lake in the White Mountains of Arizona attendees hiked the Baldy Crossover trail; participated in wildlife tracking; engaged in art activities inspired by
the lush alpine scenery, and hiked to the Green Fire site where Aldo Leopold killed a female wolf more than a century ago — an experience that led to his insight into the importance of the wolf to healthy forests. - This summer, GCWRP staff and volunteers worked with Flagstaff’s Theatrikos Theater to bring our wolf ecology education program to a summer camp for kids. They created their own play and song called “Everyone Loves the Big RAD Wolf” that celebrated the wolf.
- To protest and highlight the Arizona Game and Fish Commission’s anti-wolf positions, GCWRP endorsed the nomination of a Mexican gray wolf from Greenlee County to fill a vacant seat on the Commission. The alpha female of the Panther Creek Pack, Esperanza del Arrroyo Pantera, was nominated.
Please help us with your financial support to carry out more of this important and innovative work. Become part of the welcoming community that embraces wolves who wander into our region.
Here’s what your support will enable us to do in 2018:
- Mobilize hundreds of citizens to speak out on behalf of the wolves.
- Ensure attendance of wolf supporters at AZGFD Commission meetings when wolves are on the agenda.
- Support our successful Packtivist program, through training for all the Packs of human volunteers in the Grand Canyon region.
- Network with local businesses and private landowners to build support for wolf recovery and wolf-related tourism in the region.
- Provide education to visitors at the Grand Canyon and locally on healthy ecosystems with healthy populations of wolves.
- Watchdog the health of wild fostered and wild born pups and press the USFWS to release bonded wolf parents with pups.
- Watchdog the USFWS and AZGFD and the Commission and mobilize our supporters to rally against actions and policies that negatively impact wolves.
We need your continued support and your advocacy to save these magnificent creatures!
Please make a generous donation today. No matter how large or small your gift, it will make a difference. Together we can build a community of welcome that embraces wolves back to the region... back home to the Grand Canyon region.
Many thanks,
Emily Renn, Executive Director
