Trapped, poisoned, and shot to “control predators,” gray wolves were virtually wiped out of the western United States in 1945. Now, after centuries of unfounded concern and animosity, studies have given wolves a new symbol as social, intelligent creatures that play. an indispensable role in ecosystems, and the coverage of the Endangered Species Act has given them another chance to thrive. But those charming carnivores are still hunted by the cattle industry and trophy hunters. And now, all wolves north of the Rocky Mountains have been removed from the endangered species list, though they still have a long way to go before they fully recover.
The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho has contributed to the good fortune of wolf conservation in the northern Rocky Mountain region, which encompasses Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, the eastern third of Oregon, and Washington, as well as a small portion of Utah. As this population grew, wolves dispersed to the Pacific Northwest and from there to California. Wolves north of the Rocky Mountains also made their way to Colorado and other parts of Utah, where it’s possible that many wolves will once come back to life.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceresponded to the early progress of recovery in the northern Rocky Mountains by prematurely executing to deprive them of significant coverage under the Endangered Species Act. In 2003, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service “downgraded” wolves across the West from endangered to less protective. . After a lawsuit filed by the Center and its allies, the threatened scenario was restored.
Undeterred, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service again eliminated federal coverage for wolves north of the Rocky Mountains, finalizing a rule in 2009 that eliminated that coverage entirely. The Center and its allies filed a lawsuit, and in 2010, a ruling was issued on reinstatement. cover, preventing wolf hunting in Montana and Idaho.
But the fight had barely begun. Despite this court’s order to repair the coverage afforded to wolves through the Endangered Species Act, which was prematurely eliminated, a budget bill passed by Congress in 2011 eliminated their coverage. The rider eliminated coverage for wolves in Montana and Idaho. the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, as well as a small portion of northern Utah. This unprecedented action was the first time in the history of the Endangered Species Act that a species was removed from the endangered species list by a political resolution rather than science.
And in 2012, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service eliminated federal coverage against wolves in Wyoming, leaving wolves without federal safeguards in the northern Rocky Mountain region.
That means it’s up to the states to deal with wolves, and it’s been a bloodbath, with scores of wolves killed each year in the harshest way possible. Montana allows baited traps and chokes, while Idaho hires personal contractors to kill wolves and allows hunters to hunt wolves with dogs and ATVs. And in Wyoming at most, hunters can kill wolves without a license, by any means and at any time.
We filed a petition to repair federal coverage for northern Rocky Mountain wolves in 2021. Three years later, after a legislative lawsuit through the Center, the Service rejected our petition, even though its own scientists admitted that rampant killing of wolves under state legislation could simply decrease the region’s wolf population increased by 75%.
So, in 2024, the Center and its allies sued the agency. We’ll give up until wolves north of the Rocky Mountains have Endangered Species Act coverage that they want to survive.
As we fight to protect wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, we also work tirelessly to address the threats they face. In Idaho, we have filed a lawsuit challenging the killing of gray wolves through the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Service. In the U. S. , we are running to combat competitive harvesting proposals and have asked the U. S. Forest Service toThe U. S. government has asked the U. S. government to prohibit Idaho from paying personal contractors to log. Airplane wolves in national forests. In Montana, we have advocated for restricting trapping along the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park and have supported spending that would restrict how wolves are killed. And in Washington, thanks to a petition from the Center and its allies, the governor ordered the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to expand new regulations on when wolves can be killed in cases of collision with livestock and prioritize the use of non-dangerous animals. lethal strategies to deter confrontations over assassinations. Wolves.
Despite those ongoing efforts at the state level, wolves continue to be hunted to peak degrees in the northern Rocky Mountains. We will continue to fight for wolves and push for science, not politics, to be the basis for wolf conservation in the region.
In the meantime, we also protect all other American gray wolves. In the fall of 2020, the Trump administration finalized its resolution to eliminate federal coverage for all gray wolves in the contiguous United States (with the exception of the small gray wolf population of southwestern Mexico, indexed in the law). The Center and its allies immediately filed suit, and in early 2022, a federal court struck down the debarment rule and reinstated wolf coverage in the lower 48 states, with the exception of the northern Rocky Mountains.
This coverage is important because the three main populations (those north of the Rocky Mountains, the upper Midwest, and the Southwest) are disconnected and genetically isolated. To spur a true gray wolf recovery on a national scale, in 2010 the Center asked the Fish and Wildlife Service for a national recovery plan to identify wolf populations in suitable habitats in the West Coast, North and South Rocky Mountain states in the Midwest and Northeast. In 2023, we entered into a legal agreement requiring the Service to draft this plan within two years.
Read our press releases to learn more about the Center’s paintings with gray wolves in the Northern Rockies.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
NATURAL HISTORY
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