Submit your comment today to the Department of Environmental Conservation

Comments are due by January 14, 2025!

A federal grant program provides funding for the preservation and management of fish and wildlife diversity. To be eligible for funding, states must develop a State Wildlife Action Plan (“SWAP”) that includes a list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN), and identifies the habitats SGCN require, threats that must be addressed to ensure their conservation, and recommends actions to address those threats. Each state’s SWAP must be updated every ten years. The 2025 update to New York’s SWAP is currently underway.

The first step in the SWAP update is preparation of a Species Status Assessment (“SSA”) for each species that is or may be imperiled in the State and which is proposed for inclusion on the SGCN list. DEC’s draft SSA list published in 2024 included many mammal species included many mammal species. In June 2024, PROTECT submitted comments on DEC’s draft SSA’s, focusing on four mammal species (Canada lynx, cougar, moose and wolves) and four bird species (American three-toed woodpecker, bay-breasted warbler, Bicknell’s thrush and red-headed woodpecker).  Our comments focused on the possible presence of Canada lynx, cougar and wolves in New York state due to the confirmed presence of Canada lynx in nearby areas of Vermont, the confirmed presence in New York of dispersing gray wolves from Canada and the Great Lakes region, and the suitability and prey densities in the Adirondack Park that are capable of sustaining populations of all three of these species that were once native predators in New York.

Wolves are listed as endangered species in New York and should be included on the SGCN list.

DEC’s list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need leaves off wolves, cougars and Canada lynx

DEC subsequently released revised SSAs and a proposed SGCN list at the end of 2024 that inexplicably excludes Canada lynx, cougar and wolves. The new list for mammal species is available on DEC’s website. We urge the public to submit comments to DEC asking that DEC restore these three species to the SGCN list, making these three points:

  • Not including Canada lynx, cougar and gray wolf on the SGCN list sends the wrong message to the public that there is no potential for these species to re-establish populations in New York. In fact, the scientific data have consistently shown (and DEC has acknowledged) that suitable habitat and prey densities exist for all three species, thus providing a clear opportunity for re-establishment of these species in New York.
  • DEC can fulfill the SWAP requirement that strategies for conservation be identified for Canada lynx, cougar and gray wolf by pointing to existing constitutional and statutory protections for the millions of acres of Forest Preserve lands providing suitable habitat and the prey species, and stressing that those protections will be maintained as the foundation of the conservation strategy for these species.
  • Cougar and gray wolf are listed by DEC as endangered species and they should therefore be included on the SGCN list. Many other states, including Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont, include all state-listed endangered and threatened species on their SGCN lists, and New York should do the same.

Having these species including on the SGCN list will ensure that DEC recognizes these species as having the potential to re-establish populations in New York.  It is important that these species are not simply erased from public discussion and from DEC’s consideration.

The next opportunity to provide input will likely be later this summer when DEC releases the draft SWAP for public comment.  However, at that point the SGCN will have already been completed and it will be extremely difficult to have Canada lynx, cougar and wolves added to the list.

 

Submit Your Public Comment Today

Public comments are due by Tuesday, January 14, 2025. Please write your own comment letter to the DEC or you can use the form below to send an automatic comment.

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Comments to DEC must be submitted in writing and can be mailed or emailed to nyswap2025@dec.ny.gov with the subject line “SGCN Comments” or mailed to the following address:

SWAP Coordinator
Division of Fish and Wildlife
NYSDEC
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754

Fill in the Form Below to Submit an Automatic Email Public Comment

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    SGCN Comments

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