A proposal to remove the eastern population of the gray wolf from the endangered and threatened species lists was met with mixed reactions at a public hearing held on campus Wednesday.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service presented the proposal, which was created after the wolf populations in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota recovered to where they would be able to sustain survival and growth.

Fisheries and wildlife senior Jonathon McClain said during the hearing that he is supportive of the proposal.

"We can focus on other situations in the state that are more problematic at this time," said McClain, who added that his perspective changed after listening to the information presented earlier in the evening.

The hearing was held in the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building's auditorium.

Added to the list as an endangered species in 1974, the wolf was under the jurisdiction of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which provides for federal protection against hunting and requires individual recovery plans to be made. The gray wolf was upgraded to a threatened species in 2003 in the newly-designed Eastern Distinct Population Segment - one of three geographical locations in which large populations of the gray wolf can be found.

An endangered species is one that is on the verge of extinction, and an animal considered threatened is likely to be near extinction in the future.

Last winter, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service conducted a population survey which found 389 wolves in Michigan, and 3,207 in the entire Eastern Distinct Population Segment. The segment includes 21 states from the Dakotas, east to Maine and south to Kansas and Missouri.

Mike DeCapita, wildlife biologist for the Ecological Services division of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said people think the removal of the gray wolf from the list would eliminate federal protection that could help restore a population in New England. The act is not designed for that purpose, DeCapita said.

People want the Fish & Wildlife Service to rezone the Eastern Distinct Population Segment into New England and Western Great Lakes population segments, rather than one large segment, said Ron Refsnider, regional listing coordinator in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Division of Endangered Species.

Refsnider said because populations of the gray wolf are not currently found in New England, the Fish & Wildlife Service cannot legally establish a distinct population segment in that area.

Haslett resident John Veenstra said he opposes the proposal, because he would like to see the numbers double in Michigan and Wisconsin.

"We have a long way to go in New York and New England and we should not be de-listing," Veenstra said.