ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — Should New York include wolves in their wildlife conservation plan?

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is finalizing its 10-year state Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), 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.

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.

“There’s tons of habitat in New York that’s available for wolves naturally to re-establish in the state,” said Claudia Braymer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, who hosted a community discussion in Glens Falls this week.

“DEC 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,” said Braymer.

In 2021, the DEC confirmed that a hunter shot what was later confirmed by DNA to be a wolf near Cooperstown.

She argues that wolves are a keystone species, critical to keeping deer populations in check and restoring balance to ecosystems.

“You can look at the example out in Yellowstone where they were able to get wolves reestablished and the whole habitat changed,” said Braymer.

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–a ripple effect scientists call a “tropic cascade.”

The DEC acknowledges the ecological benefits wolves once brought, but it says it’s focusing its 10-year plan on species that are already present in the state and at risk of decline.

The agency has recommended enhancing habitat connectivity, which could allow wolves to return naturally from neighboring states.

“The 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,” the DEC stated in the drafted plan.

However, Braymer feels the DEC should conduct more proactive data collection before ruling out wolves in the state.

“Even though they’re an endangered species, DEC has left them off saying we don’t have evidence of wolves in the state,” Braymer said. “Our point is you should be collecting more information about them and taking actions to protect any wolves that might be here.”

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.

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.

“Once you tip the balance towards a heavy carnivore area, it throws the entire system out of balance,” McGowan said.“The reintroduction of a major item like that is not needed in New York,” he added.

McGowan opposes legislation requiring hunters to submit DNA samples of their canine kills, calling it burdensome for the DEC and unnecessary.

“If 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,” he suggested.

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

If you’d like to weigh in and comment on the plan, you can email nyswap2025@dec.ny.gov. Please include “Draft SWAP Comments” in the subject line.

Comments may also be sent by mail to:

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