A federal court ruling in Montana could force gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains back under Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections. A coalition of hunting and conservation organizations has appealed.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, Safari Club International (SCI), and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week. The groups are challenging a decision by a Montana district court that vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) finding that wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming no longer require ESA protection.
The ruling does not immediately change current wolf management in those states but requires the FWS to reconsider whether wolves in the Northern Rockies should be relisted. The judge sided with plaintiffs arguing that wolves should remain protected until they are recovered across their entire historic range in the Lower 48 states, under active, protective management.
“This ruling is the latest string of nonstop litigation by environmental groups seeking to frustrate the original intent of the ESA, which is to recover endangered species and return them to state-based management, not keep them perpetually listed and under the authority of the federal government,” said RMEF President and CEO Kyle Weaver. “Whether it’s the wolf or the grizzly bear, once an animal receives ESA protections, it becomes nearly impossible to remove them, even if populations meet recovery criteria over an extended period of time. The ESA needs an adjustment to renew its focus on real species recovery.”
Weaver added that the organization believes resources should be directed toward “proven, state-based wildlife management, not endless court battles.”
This fight calls the question of what constitutes recovery. The Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population was removed from the ESA list in 2011 through Congressional action after surpassing federal recovery goals of 300 wolves across the region. Today, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming together have more than 2,600 wolves, which is nearly nine times the original goal.
Michael Jean, litigation counsel for the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, said the latest ruling effectively changes the standard for recovery.
“They asked FWS to use the wolf’s recovery against it,” Jean said. “They want to push the boundaries of the recovered population to include the areas where it is currently expanding to dilute the overall recovery.”
Jean said the coalition felt compelled to appeal. “This decision seems to hold that unless a species is not recovered across its entire historical range, then it has to stay listed regardless of thriving populations,” he said. “It’s difficult to see how the wolf, or other listed species, will ever be deemed recovered under that standard.”
Wolf management in the Northern Rockies has been one of the most litigated ESA issues in the past two decades. The FWS first moved to delist wolves in the region in 2009, citing robust and stable populations. The decision was overturned by the same Montana district court involved in the current case.
Subsequent attempts at delisting, including the 2011 Congressional action, have faced repeated legal challenges from environmental organizations, which argue that state management often includes hunting and trapping seasons that threaten long-term population stability. Supporters of state management say regulated hunting is a key tool for maintaining sustainable populations while limiting conflicts with livestock and big game herds.
The appeal to the Ninth Circuit sets up another round in a legal battle that has stretched over a decade. Until a final decision is reached, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming will continue to manage their wolf populations under existing state regulations.
Laird Hamberlin, CEO of Safari Club International (SCI) said SCI will continue to “defend legal, regulated hunting as part of science-driven, state wildlife management programs for wolf species.”
For sportsmen, the stakes extend beyond wolves. The precedent set by this ruling could make it significantly harder to remove any species, like the grizzly bear, from ESA protection after initial recovery goals have been met.
See you down the trail…
Brandon Butler
driftwoodoutdoors@gmail.com
Pic: Ruling Could Return Northern Rockies Wolves to Federal Protection
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