Fish and Wildlife Service declines to give Northern Rockies wolves ESA protections
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Feb. 2 it will develop the first National Recovery Plan for gray wolves in the Lower 48 but declined to make any changes to their listing status under the Endangered Species Act, meaning Montana will continue to manage wolf populations here.
For several years, a host of conservation groups opposed to state-managed wolf hunting and trapping, including several from Montana, have petitioned the USFWS to either list gray wolves as a threatened species in the states where they are managed by state governments, or to create an expanded Western Distinct Population Segment for gray wolves with added protections.
Those petitions led to a USFWS review of whether new listing actions should be taken, but after the decision was released Friday, several of those same groups are threatening new litigation.
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