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Constructive Conflict, a neutral third party, mediated a community meeting in Manns Harbor on Wednesday, July 10 to discuss the conflict revolving red wolves in the Albemarle Peninsula.

This was one of four community meetings throughout the five counties – Washington, Beaufort, Tyrrell, Hyde and Dare – that are the only wild home to a dwindling population of red wolves.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) hired Francine Madden of Constructive Conflict to help mediate long-standing frustrations and concerns related to red wolves between all interested parties, including the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), USFWS, red wolf advocacy organizations, and the local community in the Albemarle Peninsula.

Madden released a conflict assessment report (available at constructive-conflict.com) based on 155 one-on-one interviews with all interested parties between January 2023 and June 2024. Her goal was to represent the honest perspectives of the people involved in the conflict, and to lay the foundation for a way forward.

At the Manns Harbor community meeting, about a dozen people showed up to participate in the discussion. There seemed to be a general wariness expressed about the USFWS, though the topics shared were less about red wolves and more about the black bear population, nighttime coyote hunting regulations, and mismanagement of resources.

Cyndy Holda, a retired National Park Service employee, spoke about the need for someone to be held responsible for the issues that would naturally take place “when your backyard is a wildlife refuge.” This included damage or loss experienced from wild animal intrusion on properties or farms.

A question was raised about the need for consistent information from government organizations. “Are they here or not?” asked one woman.

Red wolves were reintroduced in the 158,000 acres of Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in 1987 with four breeding pairs, booming to 120 wolves in the wild at the peak of the program in 2012.

According the USFWS, there are only 17 known (collared) red wolves in the wild now, and perhaps several others that are uncollared. Reasons for the decrease span from the animals being hit by vehicles along the Hwy-64 corridor to being shot (accidentally or not), to a lack of successful breeding. The conflict spans more than 30 years and, regardless of who or what may be to blame, has left the red wolf population hanging by a tenuous thread.

Conflicting information and reports have been released by various groups questioning the red wolf as a species, with some saying they are simply a coyote-grey wolf hybrid.

Most people at the Manns Harbor meeting agreed that because the red wolf population is currently so small, they don’t pose much of an issue for locals. The attendees seemed willing to listen to a proposal by the USFWS for plans to continue red wolf recovery in the area, and even generally seemed favorable to continuing or restarting the program in the Albemarle Peninsula.

“When you see one [area where] red wolves are on the map and it’s in your backyard, that’s something to be proud of,” said one attendee.

Madden encouraged several from the meeting to form a community group with locals from the other four counties so the community/landowner perspective could be cohesively communicated. She encouraged members of this potential five-county group to keep the conversation open with their friends and neighbors to encourage accurate community representation. There was some interest from several people in being a part of this process, though with some hesitation.

“It feels as if you’re looking for a commitment from us without providing the facts,” said Danny Burlette. “We appreciate that [USFWS] sent someone [to mediate this conversation], but we would have liked if they’d sent you out with a bit more information.”

It was assumed (though not clearly communicated), that a meeting with all interested parties (federal, state, NGOs, local community) would take place at some point in the future to fully resolve the conflict and forge a path forward for the possibility of red wolf recovery in the Albemarle Recovery with mutual understanding and cooperation.

Most at the meeting were hesitant in readily giving support for any program – or even participation in a five-county community group – until more information was clearly presented by the USFWS.

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