On August 31, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the Wyoming gray wolf population is recovered and no longer warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act and will be managed by the state starting on September 30th. The gray wolf has already been delisted in Idaho and Montana. CSF has been engaged in this issue since the beginning, urging policy makers to delist the species where it is recovered and allow states to manage the populations. On July 8, 2011, a coalition of sportsmen’s groups, including CSF, signed on to a letter addressed to Representatives Lummis and Simpson applauding their efforts to address the issue of the recovered wolf population in Wyoming and the Great Lakes region. CSF also signed onto a letter in November of 2010, which was co-signed by multiple organizations as a part of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP), to Secretary Salazar and Attorney General Holder supporting their decision to repeal the rulings by Judge Malloy on the delisting of the Montana and Idaho portions of the Northern Rocky Mountain population of the gray wolf.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
