Wildlife, Water, Landscape

Wildlife Wednesday is a free monthly speaker series held on the 2nd Wednesday.

Speaker Details:

Federal wildlife managers expect that the rising population of Mexican wolf in New Mexico and Arizona will allow them to ease protections for the species in perhaps as soon as two years.

Brady McGee, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican wolf recovery coordinator, will discuss the progress of wolf recovery efforts and outline future management in a free presentation June 10 in Albuquerque. He’s the featured June speaker for the New Mexico Wildlife Federation’s “Wildlife Wednesday” series.

The Mexican wolf had been extirpated in the United States by the mid-1900s. All the wolves alive today are descended from a base population of only seven animals that the USFWS rounded up in the 1970s – five wild wolves from Mexico and two from a zoo. Starting with such a small gene pool, restoration efforts have focused on breeding wolves that are as distantly related to each other as possible. The program has released wolves into the wild since 1998.

The population of Mexican wolves in New Mexico and Arizona has increased every year over the past several years. McGee said the population must average 320 wolves in the two states over a four-year period in order for its federal status to drop from endangered to threatened.

Last year’s count was 317 wolves and the year before was 286, McGee said. He said it’s possible, considering expected continued annual population increases, that the population could meet the four-year average requirement within the next two years. McGee’s free presentation will start at 5:30 p.m. June 10 at the Marble Brewery Northeast Heights Taproom, at 9904 Montgomery. Blvd. NE, in Albuquerque. For more information, click HERE.