{"id":239993,"date":"2025-09-19T22:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T22:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239993\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T22:43:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T22:43:13","slug":"should-wolves-be-part-of-nys-conservation-priorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239993\/","title":{"rendered":"Should wolves be part of NY’s conservation priorities?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) \u2014 Should New York include wolves in their wildlife conservation plan?<\/p>\n

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is finalizing its 10-year state Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)<\/a>, a blueprint designed to protect at-risk species and their habitats. But the exclusion of wolves from the plan is drawing pushback from advocates who say the state should be doing more to prioritize the species.<\/p>\n

Wolves, along with other large carnivores like mountain lions, once roamed New York before hunting, bounties and habitat loss wiped them out more than a century ago. Recent sightings and DNA tests, however, have fueled speculation that wolves may be making a comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s tons of habitat in New York that\u2019s available for wolves naturally to re-establish in the state,\u201d said Claudia Braymer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, who hosted a community discussion in Glens Falls this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cDEC has found a few wolves in the state. The most recent one is from 2021. There was a wolf that a hunter shot in the Cooperstown area,\u201d said Braymer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 2021, the DEC <\/a>confirmed that a hunter shot what was later confirmed by DNA to be a wolf near Cooperstown.<\/p>\n

She argues that wolves are a keystone species, critical to keeping deer populations in check and restoring balance to ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can look at the example out in Yellowstone where they were able to get wolves reestablished and the whole habitat changed,\u201d said Braymer.<\/p>\n

The Yellowstone Wolf Project, launched after wolves were reintroduced there in 1995, has shown how restoring a top predator can reshape an ecosystem. The decades-long running study has found that wolves reduced overabundant elk, which allowed vegetation to regenerate, allowing forests and riverbanks to recover, which in turn, supported beavers, birds, and other wildlife\u2013a ripple effect scientists call a \u201ctropic cascade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DEC acknowledges the ecological benefits wolves once brought, but it says it\u2019s focusing its 10-year plan on species that are already present in the state and at risk of decline.<\/p>\n

The agency has recommended enhancing habitat connectivity, which could allow wolves to return naturally from neighboring states.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SWAP recommends actions to foster regional habitat connectivity, which could facilitate natural recolonization of New York by these extirpated large carnivores as conditions permit. Not including extirpated large carnivores on the Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) list means that restoring them is not a conservation priority for DEC, but it does not prevent conservation partners from engaging in projects related to assessing the feasibility of restoration in New York,\u201d the DEC stated in the drafted plan.<\/p>\n

However, Braymer feels the DEC should conduct more proactive data collection before ruling out wolves in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though they\u2019re an endangered species, DEC has left them off saying we don\u2019t have evidence of wolves in the state,\u201d Braymer said. \u201cOur point is you should be collecting more information about them and taking actions to protect any wolves that might be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braymer and other advocates are pushing for legislation that would require hunters and trappers who hunt canines to submit DNA samples of their kill if it weighs more than 50 pounds to the DEC as a way to confirm whether wolves are present in New York.<\/p>\n

Still, some hunters remain strongly opposed. Bruce McGowan, executive director of the New York State Conservation Council Inc, warned that restoring wolves could destabilize wildlife populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you tip the balance towards a heavy carnivore area, it throws the entire system out of balance,\u201d McGowan said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe reintroduction of a major item like that is not needed in New York,\u201d he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McGowan opposes legislation requiring hunters to submit DNA samples of their canine kills, calling it burdensome for the DEC and unnecessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was something that was voluntary, then that’s a whole different ball game. You can get better buy in with the community, with the sportsman, if it’s a voluntary operation,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n

The DEC is still accepting public comment on its 10-year state Wildlife Action Plan, but the deadline is Saturday, September 20, 2025. .<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to weigh in and comment on the plan, you can email nyswap2025@dec.ny.gov<\/strong>. Please include \u201cDraft SWAP Comments\u201d<\/strong> in the subject line.<\/p>\n

Comments may also be sent by mail to:<\/p>\n

SWAP Coordinator
Division of Fish and Wildlife
NYSDEC
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) \u2014 Should New York include wolves in their wildlife conservation plan? The New York State…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":239994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[74347,5229,4788,15968,128374,1753,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,837,9571],"class_list":{"0":"post-239993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-advocates","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-conservation","11":"tag-dec","12":"tag-ecosystems","13":"tag-habitat","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-wildlife","27":"tag-wolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115233384396049111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}