This past week the Sierra Club Wildlife Team held a webinar to present information about the issues facing the Wisconsin Gray Wolves. The wildlife team is comprised of Bob Boucher, Lee Balek, Jodi Habush-Sinykin, and Jim Kerler. The Wisconsin Gray Wolves are facing being delisted from the Endangered Species List by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The purpose of the webinar is to present information on why the wolves should remain on the list, explaining the research on how Wisconsin’s ecosystem deteriorates without the wolves.
The webinar begins by summarizing the wolf and deer relationship. Without wolves in the ecosystem, there are too many deer, causing a trophic cascade. When this happens, the health of the land severely decreases, as there are significantly more deer around consuming the vegetation. In addition to land health, with more deer there are higher numbers of car crashes in Wisconsin, and Chronic Wasting Disease is more common. These problems could be minimized if the wolf population were allowed to stabilize and return to an adequate number. The team followed up with an open Q&A session.
With this presentation of the in-depth background and science behind the effects of a decreased population of wolves in Wisconsin, we need to oppose the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in attempting to have them delisted. Though the comment period is closed, we still need your help to protect the wolves, and the first step is education. To learn more about the wolves, check out our webinar HERE.
By Lydia Dean, Lands & Wildlife Project Aide with Sierra Club Wisconsin.
Photo of Gray Wolf by Gary Kramer, courtesy of Wisconsin DNR.