Ten conservation groups reached a legal settlement Friday with the Department of the Interior regarding wolf recovery and management in the Northern Rockies.
The settlement was filed for approval with a U.S. Federal District Court in Montana. If approved by the court, the agreement would remove Endangered Species Act protections for the mere 1200 gray wolves in Idaho and Montana and return management authority to those states, while retaining full protection in Washington, Oregon, Wyoming and Utah.
It would also require Department of the Interior to withdraw a controversial policy memo used to justify not protecting imperiled species throughout their entire range.
Absent this agreement, congressional legislation eroding the Endangered Species Act and eliminating all protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies – and perhaps elsewhere in the Lower 48 United States – was virtually assured by the Republican House, which would add amendments to just about any bill, including the final budget to make sure it passed.
Such legislation would mean widespread and unchecked killing of wolves in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and possibly Arizona and New Mexico (where just 50 wolves remain in the wild).
It would also open the door to further efforts by Congress to start meddling in other decisions regarding endangered wildlife, putting politics before science.
Instead, we have now set the foundation for a collaborative, science-based path forward to ensure a lasting future for America’s wolves, says Defenders of Wildlife.
"We hope today’s agreement will mark the beginning of a new era of wolf conservation in the Northern Rockies, as well as confirm the success of the Endangered Species Act and this country’s boldest wildlife reintroduction effort in history. The proposed settlement maintains protections in Oregon and Washington, where wolves have not yet fully recovered, while allowing for responsible state management in Idaho and Montana," the groups said in a joint statement.
"In return for allowing the states of Montana and Idaho to manage wolves according to approved conservation plans, the Department of the Interior agrees to conduct rigorous scientific monitoring of wolf populations across the region and an independent scientific review by an expert advisory board after three years. This is a critical safety net to ensure a sustainable wolf population in the region over the long run," the groups added.
The ten conservation groups that have agreed to the settlement are Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Hells Canyon Preservation Council, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oregon Wild, Sierra Club and Wildlands Network.
Four of the 14 conservation groups that initiated legal action have not agreed to settle, which could mean more legal filings to come.
Wolves were hunted, trapped and poisoned to near extinction in the Northern Rockies before being added to the Endangered Species List. Ranchers and hunting outfitters – powerful constituencies in the West – say wolves threaten livestock and big game animals like elk.
Defenders of Wildlife and other environmental groups pay ranchers if a wolve kills a cow, and wolves are a keystone predator that keeps elk and other game populations in check.
Read more:
Loading...
Your article reflects a biased and slanted view of wildlife management. The phrase widespread and unchecked killing of wolves in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and possibly Arizona and New Mexico” shows a total ignorance of the fifty plus years of careful scientific wildlife management by our state departments of wildlife, the envy of the world. I’d suggest you educate yourself just a little, you could start with Aldo Leopold’s seminal book on the subject Wildlife Management.
Our article objectively reflects what the 10 environmental groups – that have been working to protect wolves for decades – reported. It was a very tough trade-off for the groups to make because they know Idaho and Montana are teething at the bit to kill wolves – all 1500 of them.