Endangered Red Wolf population identified at Navy's proposed OLF sites

Chapel Hill, NC- Several packs of endangered red wolves now inhabit two of the Navy's proposed Outlying Landing Field sites in northeastern North Carolina, including the Navy's preferred site in Washington and Beaufort counties. Consequently, if the Navy plans to proceed withthe project it must formally consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and take no actions that will jeopardize the species' continued existence, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Since the Navy's original environmental impact statement on the proposed site, at least eight red wolves comprising three packs are using the leading proposed site in Washington and Beaufort counties, one pack has made the site its exclusive home, and one den with three pups was located within the site off the northern end of the proposed runway. Additional populations have been spotted in areas adjacent to the site (see map).

In a letter to the Navy, the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the National Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife, and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation in the case against the Navy's proposed OLF, detailed the evidence of the red wolf population, as well as the threats to the species recovery should the OLF be constructed. SELC also outlined the legal obligations of the Navy under the federal Endangered Species Act.

"This is significant new information that bears directly on the Navy's preferred site for the landing field. The Navy must thoroughly analyze impacts to these red wolf populations in the supplemental environmental impact statement that the courts have required them to undertake," said Derb Carter, attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "Any comprehensive analysis will show that the Navy's preferred site for the OLF is not only harmful for waterfowl, harmful to the adjacent wildlife refuge and harmful to the people of eastern North Carolina but will jeopardize recovery of the only significant population of red wolves in the wild."

Declared extinct in the wild in 1980, a handful of red wolves in captivity have been reintroduced into eastern North Carolina in recent years. It is considered to be a threatened species and is afforded protections under regulations adopted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (US FWS). Because the recently identified populations near the proposed OLF sites occur on a National Wildlife Refuge, any action that would adversely affect the species requires the Navy to formally consult with the US FWS and take no actions that would jeopardize the species' continued existence.

Construction, operation and management of an OLF at the proposed site would adversely affect and jeopardize the existence and recovery of the red wolf. The Navy's plans for the OLF include altering agricultural practices that would hurt the red wolf's ability to feed, and include the possible use of dogs to scare waterfowl from the site. In addition, the noise and disturbance resulting from the operation of the OLF will interfere with vocalizations that are important to pack formation ad territoriality.

Approximately 100 wild red wolves live in northeastern North Carolina with goals outlined in the Red Wolf Recovery/Species Survival Plan to more than double the population in the wild.

In September, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that the Navy had failed to adequately address environmental issues as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. In September, 2005, the Forth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Navy violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by not evaluating the true threat its proposed Outlying Landing Field posed to a federally protected area. The Court required the Navy to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The Navy plans to conclude its SEIS as early as this fall.