February 21, 2008...8:51 pm
Wolves Delisted
The Bush administration on Thursday announced an end to federal protection for gray wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, concluding that the wolves were reproductively robust enough to survive.
“Wolves are back,” said Lynn Scarlett, the deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior, in a telephone conference call with reporters. “Gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains are thriving and no longer need protection.”
The latest population counts show more than 1,500 wolves and 100 breeding pairs in the region, well above the established recovery minimums of 300 wolves and 30 breeding pairs.
The delisting decision will not take effect until 30 days after the rule is formally published in the Federal Register, expected before the end of the month. Assuming there are no court challenges—and there will be—the three states will then assume full management for the wolves in their states.
A coalition of wildlife and environmental groups dismissed the government’s claims and announced plans for a lawsuit to reverse the decision.
“The numbers are inadequate and the state programs are, too,” said Louisa Willcox a senior wildlife advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a conservation group that is participating in the planned lawsuit along with the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and other groups.
But not all reaction was negative. The move won the endorsement of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, which came out in support of delisting.
Todd Graham, board chairman of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said gray wolves have far surpassed the original minimum recovery goal.
“It’s a fairly easy case to make that wolves are biologically recovered,” Graham said.
Federal officials agreed their science was sound.
“Wolves are resilient, and their social structure is resilient,” said Ed Bangs, the gray wolf recovery coordinator for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. Mr. Bangs said that even with federal protections in place almost one in four wolves die each year, either naturally or from human action, and yet the population has still been rising at a rate of about 24 percent a year.
The director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, H. Dale Hall, said that if the population dipped below the state’s pledged management levels, federal monitoring would be extended and other options explored as well, including a restoration of protection.
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