15805
Federal Register
/Vol. 68, No. 62/Tuesday, April 1, 2003/Rules and Regulations
beaver (
Castor canadensis
), andsnowshoe hare (
Lepus americanus
),with small mammals, birds, and largeinvertebrates sometimes being taken(Mech 1974, Stebler 1944, WI DNR1999a). In the Midwest, during the last22 years, wolves have also killeddomestic animals including horses(
Equus caballus
), cattle (
Bos taurus
),sheep (
Ovis aries
), goats (
Capra hircus
),llamas (
Lama glama
), pigs (
Sus scrofa
),geese (
Anser sp.
), ducks (
Anas sp.
),turkeys (
Meleagris gallopavo
), chickens(
Gallus sp.
), pheasants (
Phasianuscolchicus
), dogs, and cats (
Felis catus
)(Paul 2001, Wydeven
et al.
2001a).Since 1987, wolves in the northernRocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho,and Wyoming have also killed domesticanimals, including llamas, horses,cattle, sheep, and dogs (Service
et al.
2002).Wolves are social animals, normallyliving in packs of 2 to 12 wolves.However, 2 packs within YellowstoneNational Park (NP) had 22 and 27members in 2000, and Yellowstone
’
sDruid Peak pack increased to 37members in 2001 (Service
et al.
2001,2002). Packs are primarily family groupsconsisting of a breeding pair, their pupsfrom the current year, offspring from theprevious year, and occasionally anunrelated wolf. Packs typically occupy,and defend from other packs andindividual wolves, a territory of 50 to550 square kilometers (sq km) (20 to 214square miles (sq mi)). However, in thenorthern U.S. Rocky Mountainsterritories tend to be larger, usually from520 to 1,040 sq km (200 to 400 sq mi),and in Wood Buffalo National Park inCanada, territories of up to 2,700 sq km(1,042 sq mi) have been recorded(Carbyn
in litt.
2000). Normally, onlythe top-ranking (
‘‘
alpha
’’
) male andfemale in each pack breed and producepups. Litters are born from early Aprilinto May; they can range from 1 to 11pups, but generally include 4 to 6 pups(Michigan Department of NaturalResources (MI DNR) 1997; Service1992a; Service
et al.
2001). Normally apack has a single litter annually, butproducing 2 or 3 litters in one year has been documented in Yellowstone NP(Service
et al.
2002). Yearling wolvesfrequently disperse from their natalpacks, although some remain with theirnatal pack. Dispersers may becomenomadic and cover large areas as loneanimals, or they may locate suitableunoccupied habitat and a member of theopposite sex and begin their ownterritorial pack. Dispersal movements onthe order of 800 km (500 mi) have beendocumented (Fritts 1983; JamesHammill, Michigan DNR,
in litt.
2001).The gray wolf historically occurredacross most of North America, Europe,and Asia. In North America, gray wolvesformerly occurred from the northernreaches of Alaska, Canada, andGreenland to the central mountains andthe high interior plateau of southernMexico. The only areas of theconterminous United States thatapparently lacked gray wolf populationssince the last glacial events are parts of California and portions of the easternand southeastern United States (an areaoccupied by the red wolf). In addition,wolves were generally absent from theextremely arid deserts and themountaintops of the western UnitedStates (Young and Goldman 1944, Hall1981, Mech 1974, Nowak 2000). (Referto the
Taxonomy of Gray Wolves in theEastern United States
section below foradditional discussion.)European settlers in North Americaand their cultures often hadsuperstitions and fears of wolves. Theirattitudes, coupled with perceived andreal conflicts between wolves andhuman activities along the frontier, ledto widespread persecution of wolves.Poisons, trapping, and shooting-spurred by Federal, State, and local government bounties-resulted in extirpation of thisonce widespread species from morethan 95 percent of its range in the 48conterminous States. At the time of thepassage of the Act, likely only severalhundred wolves occurred innortheastern Minnesota and on IsleRoyale, Michigan, and possibly a fewscattered wolves in the Upper Peninsulaof Michigan, Montana, and theAmerican Southwest.Researchers have learned a great dealabout gray wolf biology, especiallyregarding the species
’
adaptability andits use of nonwilderness habitats. Publicappreciation of the role of predators inour ecosystems has increased, and we believe that the recovery of the speciesis widely supported. Most importantly,within the last decade the prospects forgray wolf recovery in several areas of their former historical United Statesrange have greatly increased. In thewestern Great Lakes area, wolves havedramatically increased their numbersand occupied range. Gray wolf reintroduction programs in the northernU.S. Rocky Mountains have shown greatsuccess. Additionally, thereintroduction and recovery program of the Mexican wolf in the AmericanSouthwest, although in its initial stages,is beginning to show similar progressafter only a few years.The gray wolf (
Canis lupus
) is one of two North American wolf speciescurrently protected by the Act. Theother is the red wolf (
C. rufus
), aseparate species that is listed asendangered throughout its range in thesoutheastern United States andextending west into central Texas. Thered wolf is the subject of a separaterecovery program. This final rule doesnot affect the current listing status orprotection of the red wolf.
B. Taxonomy of Gray Wolves in theEastern United States
Both the 1978 and 1992 versions of the Recovery Plan for the EasternTimber Wolf were developed to recoverthe gray wolf subspecies
Canis lupuslycaon
, commonly known as the easterntimber wolf.
C. l. lycaon
was believed to be the gray wolf subspecies historicallyoccurring throughout the northeasternquarter of the United States east of theGreat Plains (Young and Goldman 1944,Hall 1981, Mech 1974). Since thepublication of those recovery plans,various studies on the subspecifictaxonomy of the gray wolf have beenconducted with conflicting results(Nowak 1995, 2000; Wayne
et al.
1995;Wilson
et al.
2000).At the time we prepared the July 13,2000, gray wolf reclassificationproposal, new information had recently become available that called intoquestion the identity of the large canidin southeastern Canada, an area with anextant wolf population adjacent to thenortheastern United States. However,we believed that the preponderance of available data supported the positionthat the historical canid in thenortheastern United States was asubspecies of the gray wolf, probably
Canis lupus lycaon.
An alternative position advanced byWilson
et al.
(2000) appears to begaining wider acceptance. That view isthat the wolf currently occurring inAlgonquin Provincial Park, and possiblythe ancestral wolf of southeasternCanada and the northeastern UnitedStates, is a smaller form of wolf that issimilar to or indistinguishable from thered wolf (
C. rufus
). Still others arguethat ecologically, the ancestral wolf innorthern Maine, New Hampshire, andVermont, where moose and woodlandcaribou were the predominant ungulateprey (Hall 1981), was likely to be alarge-bodied
C. lupus,
rather than asmaller, deer-eating wolf such as the redwolf (Daniel Harrison, University of Maine, pers. comm.).The coyote is the dominant canid inthe northeastern United States today,although wolf genetic material is alsopresent in these animals. Prey species
’
ranges in the Northeast have undergonesignificant changes in the last hundred-plus years as the whitetail deer hasexpanded north into Canada, while the
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