Cochise County supervisors hear plan to seek U.S.-only downlisting as wolf conflicts rise

Cochise County supervisors heard a detailed briefing on the Mexican wolf program at a May 8 work session and scheduled a May 13 public meeting as officials and law enforcement described rising livestock depredations, limited local investigative resources and a legal path that could seek a U.S.-only downlisting under the Endangered Species Act.

The presentation by Pascal Berriault, executive director of the Eastern Arizona Counties Organization, and field reports from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office focused on population data, compensation shortfalls and the limits of local authority when federal law governs management decisions.

Berriault said the U.S. minimum count at the end of 2024 was 286 wolves and that the population has grown consistently in recent years, adding that a sustained growth rate near 10% would put roughly 500 wolves on the U.S. landscape by 2030. He said the recovery plan defines specific criteria for downlisting and delisting and that the most executable near-term option is downlisting the U.S. population only — not the entire U.S.–Mexico population — because Mexico’s population remains far below the plan’s thresholds.

"There is a path," Berriault said. "And that path is not delisting and defunding." He stressed that meeting downlisting criteria would require continued funding for capture, cross-fostering…