Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies again staring down the barrel at hostile state management

Abstract

"Once abundant throughout the contiguous United States, gray wolves in the American West were brought to the brink of extinction by the 1930s through one of the most effective eradication campaigns in modern history. As a result, in 1974 gray wolves were protected under the Endangered Species Act[1] (ESA). Due to intensive conservation efforts that included wolf reintroduction to the greater Yellowstone and central Idaho areas, the current wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountains has rebounded to approximately 1650. However, extreme hostility toward wolves continues to threaten the species’ survival in the region. This hostility is expressed in the state laws that will govern wolf management in the absence of federal protection under the ESA. Nonetheless, for the second time in a year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is eliminating federal protection for northern Rockies gray wolves and relegating wolf management to the states. In so doing, FWS has approved state laws in Idaho and Montana that commit to maintaining only 100 to 150 wolves per state. The result is that the northern Rockies wolf population could plummet to an unsustainable level, even in the short term." (p. 1)