A coalition of Western wolf advocates are howling about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to strip wolves of federal protections in the contiguous 48 states, claiming the move is in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
The most recent data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its state partners show an estimated 4,400 wolves inhabit the western Great Lakes states, but only 108 wolves in Washington state, with only 20 outside of eastern Washington, 158 wolves reside in Oregon, with only 16 outside of northeastern Oregon, and 15 exist in California.
Nevada, Utah, and Colorado have had a few wolf sightings over the past three years, but wolves remain functionally absent from their historical habitat in these states. The coalition maintains that in delisting wolves, the Service ignored the science showing they are not recovered in the West.
The Endangered Species Act demands the restoration of the species in the ample suitable habitats afforded by the wild public lands throughout the West. Wolves are still listed as endangered under state laws in Washington and California, and wolves only occupy a small portion of available, suitable habitat in Oregon.
Likewise, the group says wolves have only just begun to recolonize their historical, wild, public lands habitat in Colorado and the southern Rockies.
The coalition launching this legal challenge includes WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Cascadia Wildlands, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Environmental Protection Information Center, The Lands Council, Wildlands Network, Klamath Forest Alliance, and Kettle Range Conservation Group (represented by the Western Environmental Law Center).
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