This is a pretty good article about the potential implications of the budget bill rider that will remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species List in several western states . . .
The White House is poised to accept a budget bill that includes an unprecedented end-run around Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in five Western states — the first time Congress has targeted a species protected under the 37-year-old law.
A pretty good AP article posted to today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
An attachment to a federal budget bill needed to avert a government shutdown would take gray wolves off the endangered species list across most of the Northern Rockies.
Wildlife advocates conceded Tuesday the wolf provision was all but certain to remain in the spending bill after efforts to remove it failed. Congress faces a tight deadline on a budget plan already months overdue, and the rider has bipartisan support.
It orders the Obama administration to lift protections for wolves within 60 days in five Western states.
Protections would remain intact in Wyoming, at least for now.
It now looks very likely that wolves will be removed from the Endangered Species List. Late last night, Senators Tester and Baucus successfully placed a rider in the “must pass” budget bill that restores the 2009 U.S. Fish and Wildlife rule returning management of gray wolves to state-level control in Montana and Idaho. The rider also prevents judicial review of that rule.
In other words, it looks like there will be wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana this year.
Here’s the actual text of the rider, as posted to Sen. Jon Tester’s web site:
SEC. 1713. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the order and judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09–CV–118J and 09–CV–138J on November 18, 2010.
This is not a huge surprise. Molloy refused to budge from his previous position that the Endangered Species Act does not provide for a staged withdrawal of protections based on political boundaries . . .
A federal judge has denied a proposed settlement agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 10 conservation groups that would have lifted endangered species protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula on Saturday rejected the agreement that could have led to public hunting of some 1,300 wolves in the two states.
In the 24-page decision, Molloy cited the court’s lack of authority to put part of an endangered species population under state management and expose that population to hunting, noting, “Congress has clearly determined that animals on the ESA must be protected as such,” and the court couldn’t “exercise its discretion to allow what Congress forbids.”
He also said he couldn’t approve the settlement proposed in March because not all the parties involved in the case agreed with it. Part of the argument for the settlement was that it could end litigation, but Molloy noted that was unlikely given the opposition by some to the proposed settlement.
From an AP article posted to the Missoulian’s online site . . .
Gray wolves in Montana and Idaho would be taken off the endangered list under the budget bill pending before Congress, two Western lawmakers said.
Inclusion of the language to lift protections for wolves was confirmed by the offices of Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson on Saturday.
I’m not quite sure what to make of this one. I did check to make sure it was not posted on April 1st . . .
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter says he likes what he sees in a bill that declares a wolf disaster state of emergency in Idaho.
Today’s Missoulian made a valiant effort to summarize yesterday’s hearing before Judge Molloy regarding the recently proposed deal to return wolf management to the states of Montana and Idaho, as well as other related matters. It’s a bit of a mess. Settle down with your favorite beverage before diving into this one . . .
Wolves faced two kinds of hunts during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Thursday.
A proposed settlement between wolf advocates and the federal government could open up public wolf hunting in Montana and Idaho, if Molloy supports it.
But he’s also considering an older case that considers how federal and state authorities could kill wolves while they’re still protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Complicating matters, the settlement has fractured both sides of the wolf delisting case, resulting in a courtroom Thursday with almost two dozen lawyers representing different factions.
From an AP article posted to today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
Facing mounting pressure from Congress, wildlife advocates and the U.S. Department of Interior on Friday reached an agreement to lift gray wolf protections in Montana and Idaho and allow hunting of the predators to resume.
The settlement agreement — opposed by some environmentalists — is intended to resolve years of litigation that have shielded wolves in the Northern Rockies from hunting, even as the predator’s population has sharply expanded.
Also see Earthjustice withdraws from wolf lawsuit , cites rift among groups in the Missoulian.
From an AP article posted to several regional papers (includes link to letter from Gov. Schweitzer to Dept. of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar). . .
Defying federal authority over gray wolves in his state, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Wednesday encouraged livestock owners to kill wolves that attack their animals – even in areas where that is not currently allowed – and said the state will start killing off packs that hurt elk herds.
Schweitzer said he no longer is willing to wait for federal officials to resolve the tangle of lawsuits over wolves, which has kept the animals on the endangered species list for a decade since recovery goals were first met.
According to the Missoulian, Senators Baucus and Tester are taking another run at restoring wolf management to state control in Montana and Idaho. The article also provides a pretty good retrospective of other significant wolf news from the past week . . .
Montana’s Senate delegation has introduced a new attempt to put gray wolves back under state control.
The one-paragraph bill by Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester would short-circuit a court decision by Missoula U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy that has kept wolves under federal Endangered Species Act protection in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Molloy ruled last year that wolves could not be delisted in Montana and Idaho while Wyoming was still under federal management.