Wolves...and Ultrarunning

From the New York Times (12 April 2011):

Congress for the first time is directly intervening in the Endangered Species List and removing an animal from it, establishing a precedent for political influence over the list that has outraged environmental groups.

A rider to the Congressional budget measure agreed to last weekend dictates that wolves in Montana and Idaho be taken off the endangered species list and managed instead by state wildlife agencies, which is in direct opposition to a federal judge’s recent decision forbidding the Interior Department to take such an action.

While the language on the Rocky Mountain wolves was a tiny item in budgetary terms, environmental groups said it set an unnerving precedent by letting Congress, rather than a science-based federal agency, remove endangered species protections.

I've seen wild wolves in Yellowstone, and it was one of the highlights of my life.  I don't often get to run out west where wolves exist, but is one of my dreams to see one on a trail somewhere.

That probably won't happen just because my work trips won't put me at the right place at the right time.  But it definitely won't happen if our Congress keeps putting politics ahead of science, children, common sense...and a sense of wonder at things wild and free.