Grand Canyon Sierra Club Alert! 04-30-01
Support the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program
Please attend this critical Arizona Game & Fish Commission meeting.
Saturday May 12, 2001, 1:30 p.m.
Manor House Conference Center
415 E. Hwy 70 in Safford Arizona.
The Sierra Club will be helping to arrange carpools, so please call Sandy
Bahr at (602) 253-8633 or email me at grandcanyon@qwest.net and I will
make sure you are included in the carpooling arrangements. We are looking
at carpools from both Phoenix and Tucson at a minimum.
It is critical that you attend this meeting and show your support for
the Mexican Gray Wolf recovery program and also for the participation
of the Game and Fish Department in this program. It is quite possible
that the Commission will vote to withdraw its participation in the program.
The chair of the Game and Fish Commission, Dennis Manning, is very strongly
opposed to the wolf program and has a new ally in southern Arizona rancher
Commissioner Sue Chilton.
Please tell the Commissioners that:
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Good sound science supports wolf recovery and so does the public.
Wolves have demonstrated they can hunt and kill prey, bear and rear
their young, and do all of the things expected of wild born wolves.
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Wolves played an important role in our southwestern ecosystems in
the past and will help restore natural balance and diversity to our
native wildlife in the future.
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Arizonans support the return of the Mexican gray wolf to the wilds
of Arizona.
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In the three years the wolves have been in the wild, and especially
recently, there have been minimal impacts to nearby communities. The
staff of both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game
and Fish Department have gone out of their way to accommodate the
small, but vocal minority that oppose wolves.
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The Arizona Game and Fish Commission has a trust responsibility for
all of Arizona's wildlife and should not leave this program to the
federal government alone. Arizona can and should be a leader in the
re-establishment of native wildlife species.
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Wolf recovery will continue through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
because it is required by the Endangered Species Act and supported
by most Arizonans. If Arizona Game and Fish is not involved then Arizona
loses the voice of its own wildlife professionals in this program.
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Nothing in the first three years of this program warrants the Department
withdrawing its support.
If you cannot make it to this meeting, please write and send a letter
to:
Dennis Manning, Chair
Arizona Game & Fish Commission
2221 W. Greenway Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85023-4399
fax (602) 789-3299, email to mketterer@gf.state.az.
Thank you for your support of Arizona's wolves!
Page updated: 04/30/01
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Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E.
McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633
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