Dave Parsons Talks About Mexican Wolves on Gila/Mimbres Community Radio
Earth Matters / Dave Parsons on Mexican Wolves
This week we welcome Nathan Newcomer of New Mexico Wilderness Alliance to the Earth Matters production team. His first interview is with Dave Parsons – former US FWS / Fish & Wildlife Service Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator. They discuss the Mexican gray wolf program and the recent developments in newly proposed rule change.
Dave at the “Green Fire” site
Dave Parsons is currently with the Rewilding Institute and he was the US FWS / Fish and Wildlife Service’s first Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator from 1990-1999. He was the primary author of the original rule that established a Nonessential Experimental Population of the Mexican Gray Wolf in Arizona and New Mexico, which will be replaced by the proposed rule revision.
He has continued to follow the progress of the Mexican wolf recovery program from his retirement from FWS in 1999 to the present day. He holds a B.S. and M.S. degrees in Wildlife Biology, served as a career wildlife biologist for FWS for 24 years, and has lectured nationally and internationally on wolf biology, ecology, and conservation.
You can visit mexicanwolves.org – the website for Lobos of the Southwest – for additional information in support of Wolf recovery. A public hearing is scheduled in Albuquerque on October 4th on the update of wolf recovery regulations – including delisting of grey wolves as an endangered species nationally and other issues impacting wolves in Southwest New Mexico & Arizona. There is also a public comment period on other aspects of the revised regulations.
Based in Silver City, Nathan Newcomer is the Gila Grassroots Organizer for the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. He has over a decade of experience working on statewide wilderness campaigns in New Mexico and identifies with the Ed Abbey quote…
“The idea of wilderness needs no defense –
it only needs more defenders.”
Earth Matters airs Tuesday & Thursday on Gila/Mimbres Community Radio at 10am and 8pm.
Or listen to Dave Parsons any time via this link.
David Parsons received his Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University and his Master of Science degree in Wildlife Ecology from Oregon State University. Dave is retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where from 1990-1999 he led the USFWS’s effort to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest. Dave’s interests include the ecology and conservation of large carnivores, protection and conservation of biodiversity, and wildlands conservation at scales that fully support ecological and evolutionary processes.
Dave is the Carnivore Conservation Biologist and a member of the Board of Directors of The Rewilding Institute; a former member of the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance; a founding member of the Science Advisory Board of Project Coyote; and a former graduate advisor in the Environmental Studies master’s degree program at Prescott College. Dave serves as a science and policy advisor for organizations and coalitions advocating for wolf recovery and landscape-scale conservation in the Southwest.
In 2001, Dave received the New Mexico Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s annual “Professional Award.” In 2007 at the North American Wolf Conference, Dave received the “Alpha Award” for his “outstanding professional achievement and leadership toward the recovery of Mexican wolves.” In 2008 he received the “Outstanding Conservation Leadership Award” from the Wilburforce Foundation and the “Mike Seidman Memorial Award” from the Sky Island Alliance for his conservation achievements. Dave received the “Leader of the Pack” award from Project Coyote in 2019 and was named a “Climate Hero” by the organization One Earth in March 2024.
Dave enjoys wildlife viewing, wilderness adventures, and dancing. He lives in Albuquerque, NM, with his wife, Noralyn.