Field Notes: Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program – Winter 2024 to Spring 2024

Pack mentality runs strong at Defenders of Wildlife. So perhaps it goes without saying that we have a soft spot for the 60 packs of Mexican gray wolves that roam the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area. While this area, encompassing the Gila National Forest, provides prime habitat for the lobos, the Mexican gray wolves’ recovery team is just as critical to their restoration.  

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Evelyn Lichwa/Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team

Through a collaboration among Defenders of Wildlife, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Arizona Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, college students and recent graduates can become wildlife technicians working to conserve and recover the Mexican gray wolf. The program allows hands-on experience and provides vital field support to the agencies helping to increase wolf monitoring, security, conflict-prevention and survival.  

We invite you to enjoy field notes from these young wildlife technicians who spent the springtime helping wildlife managers to monitor Mexican gray wolves and deploy non-lethal, co-existence tactics that keep them away from livestock and other places they shouldn’t be.  

“I am back at it again... Now that it is my second season, it’s been great being able to hit the ground running. I start my mornings by monitoring the towns of Alpine and Nutrioso to make sure that wolves aren’t getting too close to town. Once I am finished with that, I scout different areas for access to potential den sites, as well as conduct searches for uncollared wolves. Uncollared sign search is particularly interesting, as it is quite exciting when you do find either tracks or scat. Who knew I would ever be excited about finding scat!” –  Cameron Barnes

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Christian Guajardo

“The sense of stage fright is palpable when you’re waving a radio antenna in the air listening for beeps through the crackle of static while much more experienced people watch you! But that feeling of discomfort is natural, and it’s unmatched by other novel sensations — the glee of seeing a Gambel's quail noodling along, the pounding reverberation of a shotgun blank’s boom through your body during a hazing run, the dusty-evergreen smell of the Gila National Forest.” –  Ari Sullivan  

Spring is also when wildlife technicians aid in cross-fostering operations alongside the state and federal wildlife agencies. Once born, selected captive-bred pups are placed into wild packs. This tactic is meant to improve the genetic diversity of the wild packs, which is severely lacking in diversity and could undermine recovery efforts. In 2023, at least 138 pups were born into wild packs but, only 86 survived. Wild-born pups generally have a 50% chance of surviving their first year.

“When we successfully placed a litter of fosters there was a wonderful rebound. I was ecstatic to be there on a high mountain slope and in awe of the pups themselves. I’d seen photos of young pups, fuzzy wrinkled brown tubers with closed eyes and crinkled ears. I had no idea they could look so distinct at this age. The pups weren’t just different sizes; they were marked with rufous tinges around the ears sometimes, and white-dipped toes or spangled chests. One even had a powdered-sugar dusting of a forehead blaze! How rewarding it is to see these little creatures up close and think of their contributions to their families, their species, and their ecosystems. The sense of success and hope was palpable, and everyone was in good spirits.” –  Ari Sullivan

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Daniel Gachuz-Bracamontes

However, conservation work is not always about the spectacle of wildlife. Wildlife technicians will remain in field houses for the duration of their internships. As Sullivan reported in May, “not every day can be a bright one.”  

“I was sent to investigate another such signal, and immediately found that double-quick beep that indicates a collar hasn’t moved in a good while and its wearer is likely deceased; I was expecting simply another low day. While the low point was certainly there, the need to be ready for anything was reiterated to me in a mountain lion’s steady face. I found myself stricken with emotions on opposite ends of the spectrum – wonder at the pups and grief and regret that I’d had to confirm the loss of another wolf.” – Ari Sullivan  

These wildlife technicians understand the ebb and flow of Mother Nature, and without that understanding and their commitment to helping restore the Mexican gray wolf population, the future would likely be absent of this keystone species.  These talented young conservationists embody the hope and promise of Defenders’ mission to protect all native animals and plants in their natural communities.