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Recovery Planning
 Active recovery of wolf populations in the Northeast by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be necessary because the populations in both the Great Lakes region and Canada are probably too far away or too small to support recolonization by individual animals migrating on their own. CREW believes that a recovery plan for the wolf in the Northeast should be developed according to state and tribal wildlife laws and the federal Endangered Species Act and be based on:
- Cooperative plans involving state, tribal, and federal agencies and diverse stakeholder groups
such as hunters, landowners, and conservationists. Partnerships with states and
full public review will help ensure that plans are effective, minimize wolf-human conflict, and consider the human, social, and economic dimensions of wolf recovery efforts.
- Scientific research to determine wolf distribution, population densities, habitat and prey needs, and the best source population. Thorough understanding of these and other issues will ensure both proper management and adequate protection of the species.
- Habitat and prey base conservation so that wolves can survive and thrive. This includes restoring and maintaining connections with wildlife populations in Canada and suitable habitat in the United States.
Wolf recovery can help correct the ecological damage that has occurred in part because the wolf has been eliminated from its native eastern habitat and range. During the recovery process, it will be important to follow three principles of conservation science:
- Representation: the need to conserve “some of everything.” As much as possible, a species should be restored in the diverse environments where it once lived and reflect the greatest genetic diversity that originally defined it.
- Resiliency: the need to conserve individual populations that are large enough to survive for a long time without over-intensive management.
- Redundancy: the need to conserve a high enough number of individuals to ensure resiliency. Restored wolf populations should be large enough to support key ecological patterns, such as the relief of grazing pressures by deer and moose.
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