Source:  http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/nw-wisconsin/Red-Cliff-Tribe-rolls-out-Wolf-Protection-Plan-declares-itself-wolf-sanctuary-296667471.html

By Ramona Marozas – Biography

March 17, 2015

Bayfield, WI (NNCNOW.com) — The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has developed its Wolf Protection Plan.

The tribe cites that a federal judge ordered the gray wolf back on the Endangered Species List in December 2014; the order followed years of controversy over a state sanctioned hunting season.

Following the judge’s order, the Red Cliff Treaty Natural Resources Division began working on a protection plan that aims to preserve wolves on and near the reservation.

Some of the highlights of the plan are the following:

-Declaring the Red Cliff Reservation a wolf sanctuary

-Prohibiting any hunting within a six mile “buffer” zone of the reservation should there ever be future legal harvest

-Working cooperatively with U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to safely mitigate any human-wolf conflict issues.

“The wolf plays an important role in the ecology of the Great Lakes ecosystem,” Treaty Resource Administrator for the tribe, Chad Abel, said. “That, coupled with the significance the wolf holds in Anishinaabe history and culture, makes the preservation of the animal paramount to the health of not only the Red Cliff community but all Ojibwe Bands.”

In three seasons, hunters killed more than 1,500 wolves in the Great Lakes region, according to the tribe.

The tribe opposes the hunt for spiritual reasons. They also do not believe the wolf population is fully recovered.

A Celebration of the Wolf event is planned for March 26 at the Legendary Waters Convention Center.

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