From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., announced Monday that he will host three hearings — including one in Kalispell on Oct. 6 — on the impacts of relisting gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act.
Rehberg is interested in a legislative solution…
The Oct. 6 meeting in Kalispell will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at Flathead Valley Community College’s Arts and Technology building…
From today’s Missoulian . . .
Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg released draft legislation Thursday that would prohibit treating gray wolves in Montana and Idaho as endangered species and turn management of them exclusively over to the states.
The brief, two-page draft is meant to be a starting point for legislation that he hopes to present to the House of Representatives soon.
An Associated Press article from today’s Missoulian . . .
Government agencies are seeking broad new authority to ramp up killings and removals of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, despite two recent court actions that restored the animal’s endangered status in every state except Alaska and Minnesota…
In Montana and Idaho, officials hope to revive hunting seasons by rebranding them as “conservation hunts” or “research hunts.” Also, Montana Democrat U.S. Senator Max Baucus wants ranchers to have more freedom to shoot wolves harassing livestock…
From today’s Flathead Beacon, here’s the Associated Press’ take on the restoration of wolves to Endangered Species Act protection . . .
Wildlife advocates say a ruling to restore Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves throughout the Northern Rocky Mountains buys time to create a better plan than the one the judge rejected, one that ensures their numbers don’t dwindle again.
Posted this evening to the Missoulian website . . .
Wolves are back on the endangered species list, after U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled Thursday that populations in Montana and Idaho cannot be considered separately from Wyoming’s wolves.
In a 50-page decision, Molloy said “the rule delisting the gray wolf (in Montana and Idaho) must be set aside because, though it may be a pragmatic solution to a difficult biological issue, it is not a legal one.”
There were no surprises in the first day of the hearing on whether gray wolves should be placed back under the Endangered Species Act in Montana and Idaho. Both sides presented the expected arguments. Here’s the lead-in from a relevant AP story. . .
A federal judge heard arguments Tuesday on whether gray wolves in Montana and Idaho should be protected once more under the Endangered Species Act and whether those states can ensure the species won’t be wiped out under their management.
The latest round in the lawsuit regarding Endangered Species Act delisting of gray wolves kicks off Tuesday. Today’s Missoulian has a good overview of the situation . . .
The wolves themselves may be the only ones who won’t be at the Russell Smith Courthouse on Tuesday morning when U.S. District Judge Don Molloy returns to arguments about the predator’s Endangered Species Act status.
From today’s online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the recent delisting of gray wolves in Montana and Idaho, raising some of the same legal issues that blocked delisting last year.
But there is a new twist in the litigation — the plaintiffs will challenge the federal government decision to exclude Wyoming from its delisting rule because of that state’s inadequate wolf management plan.
Read the entire article . . .
This whole wolf thing is getting a little confusing, but here’s the latest, as posted in today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
Wolves in parts of the Northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list Monday — opening the way for public hunting of the animals to begin in some states this fall.
But prior attempts to remove federal protection for the predators have been rejected by judges and new legal challenges are certain.
Read the entire article . . .