WASHINGTON, D.C. – The federal government last week said it will not release a National Wolf Recovery Plan, despite announcing a plan was in the works last year, saying the species doesn’t need federal protection.
The move by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comes as members of Congress are considering multiple bills that would delist the species from the Endangered Species Act nationwide.
Wolves in the United States are grouped into three differently-managed groups.
In the Northern Rockies — Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and parts of Washington and Oregon — wolves were removed from the endangered species list and are managed by their respective state wildlife agencies, which allow hunting.
A population of wolves in Minnesota are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, while wolves in the remaining 44 U.S. states are listed as endangered species.
Under the first Trump administration in 2020, the USFWS had decided to delist gray wolves in the states outside of the northern Rockies where they are protected by the Endangered Species Act. But a federal judge in California reversed that decision in February 2022.
Under the new gray wolf “Recovery Planning Exception Findings,” released last week, the USFWS states that no recovery plan is needed because the species no longer meets ESA requirements.
“The Service’s most recent status reviews for listed gray wolves determined that neither listed entity (44-State or MN entities) meet the definitions of a threatened species or endangered species under the Act according to the best scientific and commercial data available,” according to the Service. “Both listed gray wolf entities are no longer in need of conservation under the Act due to recovery. We therefore conclude that recovery plans for these two entities would not promote their conservation.”
The decision not to release a recovery plan is based on the 2020 status review that was later reversed in 2022.
After the federal government cleared the way for wolves to be removed from the Endangered Species Act in 2020, a three-day hunt in Wisconsin killed 216 wolves, nearly twice the quota allowed by the state.
Several conservation groups, which led the lawsuits against the 2020 decision, decried the latest move by the federal government and said they would once again go to court.
“I’m appalled that Trump wants to strip gray wolves of federal protections and turn their management over to states that are dead set on killing them,” said Collette Adkins, senior attorney and Carnivore Conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Courts have repeatedly made it clear that our country’s gray wolves have not recovered in places like the southern Rocky Mountains and West Coast. We’ll challenge the Trump administration’s unlawful decision to once again abandon wolf recovery, and we’ll win.”
Montana’s wolves in court
Montana’s wolf hunting season is currently underway with new state regulations that allow for hunters and trappers to kill 458 wolves. Another 100 wolves can be killed in management actions by wildlife officials.
But two opposing groups have filed lawsuits against the state over the new regulations.
A pair of Republican lawmakers and the Outdoor Heritage Coalition allege that the Fish and Wildlife Commission, which sets policies and regulations for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, didn’t comply with state laws intended to reduce the state’s population of gray wolves, saying the quota is too low.
On the other side, four conservation organizations filed suit also in hopes of overturning the latest wolf management regulations, but with an opposing argument — that the decision to increase the quota of wolves that can be killed this year threatens the species and flies in the face of the constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
A half-day of arguments will take place before Lewis and Clark District Court on Nov. 14.
The conservation groups are seeking a preliminary injunction which would void this year’s wolf hunting regulations.
According to FWP’s wolf harvest dashboard, 62 wolves have been harvested since the general hunting season opened on Sept. 15. The state’s trapping season begins Dec. 1 and runs through March 15, 2026.
This story was originally produced by Daily Montanan, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Idaho Capital Sun, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
