Tag Archives: wolf hunt

Lawsuits challenge new wolf rules in Northern Rockies

May 5, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsEndangered Species List, wolf hunt, wolf recovery, wolvesnfpa

Here’s a short Associated Press article covering both of the two lawsuits filed today opposing congressional removal of gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection . . .

Environmental groups asked a federal judge Thursday to put gray wolves back on the endangered species list in the Northern Rockies.

Two lawsuits were filed in federal court in Montana as control over more than 1,300 wolves was turned over to state authorities in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Utah.

A federal budget bill rider in April had mandated Thursday’s lifting of wolf protections.

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Environmental groups file suit to stop wolf delisting

May 5, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsEndangered Species List, wolf hunt, wolf recovery, wolvesnfpa

As expected, a number of environmental groups filed suit in federal court today challenging congressional removal of gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. Here is the Missoulian’s write-up on one of the two suits . . .

A trio of wolf advocates claim Congress violated the Separation of Powers Doctrine when it removed gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection and blocked future court review.

“We will not allow the fate of endangered species to be determined by politicians serving special interests,” Alliance for the Wild Rockies director Michael Garrity said in an email Thursday morning. “These decisions must be based on science, not politics, and Congress has never before removed species from the endangered species list by political fiat.”

AWR was joined by Friends of the Clearwater and WildEarth Guardians in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

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Wolves are off the Endangered Species List — again

May 5, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsEndangered Species List, wolf hunt, wolf recovery, wolvesnfpa

As of yesterday, wolf managment has been returned to state control in Montana and Idaho. Here is the Daily Inter Lake’s take on the subject . . .

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule Wednesday that officially removes wolves in Montana and Idaho from the Endangered Species list.

The rule comes on the heels of Congressional action that compelled delisting.

“We are implementing the recent legislation that directs the delisting of the gray wolf in most of the northern Rocky Mountains,” Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes said in a prepared statement. “As with other delisted species, we will be applying the Endangered Species Act’s post-delisting monitoring requirements to ensure that wolf populations remain robust while under state wildlife management.”

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Obama Administration: Gray wolves go back to state control — in as many as eight states

May 4, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsGreat Lakes region, Northern Rockies, wolf hunt, wolf management, wolf population, wolf recovery, wolvesnfpa

This too-short Associated Press article claims that, besides returning management of gray wolves to state control in the Northern Rockies, the Obama administration proposes to do the same for a further 4200 wolves in the Great Lakes region . . .

The Obama administration says it is lifting Endangered Species Act protections for 5,500 wolves in eight states in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes.

The move will turn control over the predators to state wildlife agencies. Public hunts for hundreds of wolves already are planned this fall in Idaho and Montana.

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Obama administration taking wolves off endangered species list; return to state control Thursday

May 4, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsMontana FWP, wolf hunt, wolf management, wolf population, wolf recovery, wolvesnfpa

Here’s a good article from today’s Missoulian on the imminent delisting of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies . . .

Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves officially return to state control Thursday, when their removal from Endangered Species Act protection is published in the Federal Register.

That means Montana and Idaho hunters will be back in the business of controlling wolf populations this fall. A bipartisan rider in the 2011 federal budget bill ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reinstate its 2009 wolf delisting decision and immunized it from further court challenges.

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Montana FWP wants quota of 220 wolves for fall hunt

May 4, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsMontana FWP, wolf hunt, wolvesnfpa

From today’s Missoulian . . .

Montana wildlife officials moved quickly to get fall hunting plans in place after the federal government returned the gray wolf to state management on Wednesday.

“We’ll propose tentative plans to the commission on May 12,” Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said shortly after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that wolves would no longer be protected under the Endangered Species Act. “We expect a (hunting) quota of 220, up from 186 last year, and there will be a special wolf management unit in the Bitterroots with a specific quota to address the elk depredation problems there.”

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Idaho could set wolf hunt quotas by August

May 2, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsIdaho, wolf hunt, wolvesnfpa

From an AP article posted to the Missoulian’s web site . . .

Idaho wildlife policy makers could set wolf hunt quotas by August after Congress last month directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the predators.

There are currently an estimated 705 wolves in Idaho in about 87 packs, but Idaho Department of Fish and Game plans to update that information this month at a meeting in Lewiston.

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Montana sportsmen ask state for quick action on wolves

April 20, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsMontana FWP, wolf hunt, wolf population, wolvesnfpa

This article from yesterday’s Ravalli Republic is worth reading for context. It includes some indication of the likely quotas for this year’s wolf hunt, as well as information on the planning schedule . . .

Sportsmen’s groups from around Montana are asking wildlife officials to move as quickly as possible to implement the state’s wolf management plan once the animal is removed from federal protection.

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Idaho officials set meeting to plan wolf hunt

April 16, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsEndangered Species List, Idaho, wolf hunt, wolf recovery, wolvesnfpa

Idaho is already spooling up for a wolf hunt this year. No word from Montana yet . . .

Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game plan to meet with Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter on Monday to discuss a public wolf hunting season.

“We will be ready to have another hunting season,” said Jim Unsworth, deputy director of Fish and Game.

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It’s official: wolves to come off endangered list within 60 days

April 15, 2011Environmental Issues, NewsEndangered Species List, wolf hunt, wolf management, wolf recovery, wolvesnfpa

It’s official: Gray wolves are off the endangered species list in this corner of the country . . .

Federal wildlife officials say they will take more than 1,300 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list within 60 days.

An attachment to the budget bill signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama strips protections from wolves in five Western states.

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