Wolf delisting shelved for now

[Oak]

Feds retreat on Northern Rockies wolf hunting plan
September 16, 2008 3:18 p.m. PT

BILLINGS, Mont. -- A federal wildlife official says the government plans to retreat for now from its attempt to take gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list.

Ed Bangs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the government in the next week plans to withdraw a rule issued this spring. The rule was based on the assertion that the region's approximately 1,500 wolves were recovered fully, opening the way for public hunting of wolves to begin this fall in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Those hunts had been in doubt since July, when U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy blocked them from going forward pending resolution of a lawsuit by environmentalists.

The decision to withdraw the rule listing wolves as fully recovered is subject to final approval by Department of Justice attorneys.

 

[Oak]

Submitted by Rocky Barker on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 3:12pm.

The federal government may be going back to the drawing board on delisting the gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains.

Attorneys for the Bush Administration have told state attorneys and attorneys for sportsmen’s groups they plan to file a motion with U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula seeking he remand the case to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Molloy, if you remember, granted a preliminary injunction July 18 that will put wolves in the Northern Rockies back under federal government management. That decision meant Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will have no wolf hunting seasons this fall.

But even though Molloy issued the preliminary injunction, the case moved forward and the two sides were expected to file briefs and make their cases. If Molloy grants the feds motion it means the delisting decision would be revoked by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and wolves would remain protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Molloy said the Natural Resources Defense Council and 11 other wolf advocacy groups demonstrated they would likely win the case on the merits of their arguments, Molloy said in his opinion. This decision leads one to believe that the federal government has comes to the same conclusion.

Molloy made his July decision based on the wolf advocates' claim that wolves in Yellowstone National Park were not genetically mixing with other wolf populations, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said was necessary. He also criticized the Wyoming plan, which had 90 percent of the state open for wolf killing year-round.

But Molloy said the Montana and Idaho wolf plans were good enough to protect wolves, at least as well as the federal rules in place when the wolves were delisted. The agency’s top wolf manager Ed Bangs told me shortly after the decision he was confident he could change the judge’s mind on the genetics issue.

But Wyoming’s huge wolf kill zone is hard to defend. This motion could mean the Bush administration wants to reissue the decision without Wyoming.

Or they might simply kick the issue on to the next administration.

 

[1_pointer]

Interesting on the remand... Wonder if they didn't have the genetic data Bangs thought they had?

It'll be interesting to see if they release wolves on a state by state basis after this.

 

[A-con]

You gotta be kidding right ?
Who was it that was busting my chops when I said it wouldn't happen before the next presidental election ?

 

[BigHornRam]

That's 1 case of Kokanee Gold in bottles SS.

 

[1_pointer]

BHR- Do I owe you beer or do you owe me??

 

[BigHornRam]

Don't know Pointer......is Wyoming's suit still going?

 

[1_pointer]

Heck if I know. I'll do some asking around in Laramie this weekend! If I find out I'll let you know.