The Gray Wolf to be downlisted and delisted over the next year

July 4, 2000

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will soon announce a proposal to delist the wolf in the Great Lakes and downlist it in most of the Western United States.

Delisting means removal from protection under the Endangered Species Act with state management of the wolf under state plans approved by the Secretary of Interior. Is also means that in some states that have no wolves, no recovery attempt will be made and any protection given the wolf will be strictly up to the state. The area affected by delisting would be the Western Great Lakes and two states in the West.

Wolves would be declared "recovered" and delisted in the Western Great Lakes.

In the Western Region, wolves would be downlisted from "endangered" in NW Montana and other Western States to "threatened."  In the "experimental wolf recovery area of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming," there would be no change.  Wolves, if any exist, in Washington, NW Montana, Oregon, Utah, or Colorado, would go from endangered to threatened.  Management as a threatened species will provide more flexibility such as the ability to "injuriously harass" wolves away from livestock with rubber bullets, or similar devices. At the present, a wolf cannot be harassed in a way that may cause injury unless its has its teeth in some livestock; and then, ironically, it can be shot. So far I have no problem with the terms of this downlisting. However, as far as the West goes, the real hole in this is that the wolf will have no status in Nevada or California.  The official explanaton is that there is not enough suitable habitat in these states, and this is just flat out wrong. In fact, there has been a wolf on the Idaho-Utah-Nevada border for some time now. 

During the comment period that will soon be announced and last for four months, I would urge folks to vigorously protest the exclusion of Nevada and California. Exclusion by state in this manner is unscientific.  The Nevada-Idaho border corresponds to no feature on the ground.  It is a straight line produced from 19th century politics. In the 21st century, we can do better.

Here is a story on the proposal from the New York Times. Rules Shielding the Gray Wolf May Soon Ease No Longer Endangered; Still Hotly Debated By Andrew C. Revkin.

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