A coalition of wildlife advocates and hunters, represented by the non-profit environmental law firm Earthjustice has asked the U.S. Forest Service to issue new protections for wolves in designated wilderness areas following Idaho and Montana’s enactment of laws allowing professional contractors and private reimbursement programs to dramatically reduce wolf populations in the two states. The petition, submitted to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and top Forest Service officials, asks the Service for protection of wolves in national forest wilderness areas from the new laws.
During their 2021 sessions, the Montana and Idaho legislatures enacted laws that target up to 1,800 wolves. The petition asks the Forest Service to issue new regulations and closure orders to prevent wolf killing by professional and subsidized hunters and trappers across nearly 8 million acres of designated wilderness in Idaho and Montana, including such flagship areas as the Bob Marshall Wilderness in northwest Montana and the Frank Church-River of No Return and Selway-Bitterroot Wildernesses in central Idaho.
