Potential suitable wolf habitat exists in several additional connected recovery areas of the Southwest and Mexico, including the Grand Canyon region.  Please take a look at Places for Wolves by for more information about the Southwest and the data used to identify additional future recovery areas.  Map and Places for Wolves courtesy of Defenders of Wildlife.

The 36 million-acre Grand Canyon Ecoregion (GCE) is bounded on the west by the Grand Wash drainage, on the east by the Little Colorado River watershed, and extends from the Mogollon Rim in central Arizona north to southern Utah’s High Plateaus. Scientists have conducted feasibility studies* determining where within the GCE the best suitable habitat for wolves exists.

*Feasibility Studies

Carlos Carroll study 2004
Carlos Carroll study 2006
Paul Sneed feasibility study 2004
Kurt Menke feasibility study 2006

Map of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area by USFWS.  Currently, Mexican wolves are only allowed to live in the wild in the Primary and Secondary Recovery Zones (surrounded by the pink boundary line) of the Apache National Forest in Arizona and the Gila National Forest in New Mexico, as well as the Fort Apache Indian Reservation (shown in yellow).  A reintroduction project rule prohibits the wolves from establishing territories anywhere outside of this current recovery area.  Despite the excellent habitat that is available and growing public support for wolf recovery, Mexican wolves will not be allowed to disperse to the Grand Canyon region and stay until this project rule is changed.