Most Federal and Nevada state biologists postulate theat gray wolves were not numerous in pre-colonial Nevada.............However, the Paiute Indians historically known as the Tudinu (or Desert People), , who occupied the territory encompassing part of the Colorado River, most of Southeastern Nevada and parts of both Southern California and Utah featured the wolf prominently in their creation story, leading many to feel that the Gray Wolf did indeed have a legitimate foothold in pre-colonial Nevada................With there being some 2-3000 Pumas making a living on deer, Gray Wolves(also deer eaters) most likely can also reclaim their historical haunts in the state if they were rewilded there...................Note the following information from the MOUNTAIN LION FOUNDATION discussing Puma habitat in Nevada----Wolves can call this same ground home if given the opportunity-----"The state of Nevada encompasses 109,826 miles of land"............... "Of this the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) estimates that approximately 50,000 square miles, roughly 45 percent of the state, is suitable mountain lion habitat"............... "Using a 1982 Gap Habitat Analysis map to ascertain the amount and location of mountain lion habitat in each of Nevada's 29 Game Management Units (GMUs), MLF researchers estimate that there is closer to 55,891 square miles of suitable mountain lion habitat in the state"............ "Nevada's mountain lion habitat is distributed throughout all the mountain ranges in the state".............. "According to NDOW, "The mountain lion's habitat ranges from desert, chaparral and badlands to sub-alpine mountain and tropical rain forests".............. "In Nevada, mountain lions are most likely found in areas of pinion pine, juniper, mountain mahogany, ponderosa pine and mountain brush"(We call on Nevada to encourage the return of the wolf to these same habitat regions)

http://elkodaily.com/lifestyles/nature-notes-wolf-myth-we-will-not-allow-wolves-in/article_4b5b5426-2fe2-11e4-81c0-0019bb2963f4.html#.VAJkUj2gkrw.email

Nature Notes: Wolf myth: We will not allow wolves in Nevada

15 hours ago  •  Larry Hyslop

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The myth goes like this: wolves will never live in Nevada, specifically Elko County. We simply will not allow it. We will kill any wolves that dare enter Nevada.

Russell Woolstenhulme is a Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist with the state office. He told me the gray wolf is still listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in all lower 48 states other than Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and the Great Lakes states where wolves are already delisted. However, the FWS has posted a letter of intent in the Federal Register to delist the gray wolf in all lower-48 states other than those having the Mexican gray wolf and red wolf species.

Nevada has listed the gray wolf as a big game species, but with a closed season. It is illegal to kill a wolf in Nevada. When asked if someone would be prosecuted for shooting a wolf mistaken for a coyote, Russell said someone might get away with it once but such a kill would bring on an investigation by a FWS Special Agent. It is illegal to kill a wolf attacking ones livestock, (unless the FWS delists wolves in the future).  In the meantime, someone losing livestock to a wolf could contact Wildlife Services to investigate.  They are the Federal Agency with authority to remove such wolves.

Russell said “we probably get wolves wandering in and out of Nevada.” Most likely any wolves are wandering through northeastern Elko County. NDOW has received several reports of wolf sightings but still none with verifiable photos or carcasses. Neither has there been recovered wolf scat or wolf hair clinging to a fence.

He feels it is possible, but not probable, that a wolf pack or two could establish in Elko County. We do not (yet) have the prey base to support a wolf pack. Our large elk herds are still far smaller than those supporting wolf packs in Idaho. If the gray wolf should be delisted in Nevada, he does not feel there would ever be enough wolves to hold wolf hunts.

Ken Gray is the regional game supervisor for the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s Elko office. He said “I have no doubt there are wolves that have crossed into Nevada,” but there still remains no positive proof. NDOW conducts a lot of flights counting elk and has never spotted a wolf. Ken also says they have seen no evidence of wolves being killed and left.

Russell and Ken feel wolves in Nevada will likely remain young wolves wandering through. Idaho has found it difficult to control a wolf population of about 700 with hunts. They have found trapping is more reliable to reduce wolf numbers. Finding and shooting a few wandering wolves would probably be impossible. It appears to me we may always have a few wolves, regardless of the myth.
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http://www.deseretnews.com/article/635170655
/Nevada-wolves-extinct-yet-still-endangered.html?pg=all#sBTPf6EThA4ZUsgh.03

Nevada wolves extinct, 

yet still 'endangered'

Federal agency won't remove animal from the protected list

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