Tag Archives: wolf recovery

Judge Molloy hears various sides on wolf settlement, hunts

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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.

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Wolf deal faces first test in federal court

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The recently announced deal to return wolf management to the states of Montana and Idaho faced its first court test today . . .

A proposal to settle years of litigation and allow public hunting of wolves in parts of the Northern Rockies faces its first legal test on Thursday, as it goes before a federal judge who has twice rebuffed attempts to lift protections for the predators.

The hearing before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula follows a settlement agreement last week between the Obama administration and 10 conservation groups.

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Settlement reached on wolf recovery in western states – more info

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From the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, here’s some more information on the proposed gray wolf recovery settlement announced last Friday . . .

Wolf management in the Northern Rockies took a step forward Friday, March 18, when a coalition of 10 conservation groups — including GYC — announced a legal settlement with the U.S. Department of the Interior. The agreement was filed in a federal district court in Missoula, where the court will review it and decide whether to support [it] . . .

If the court OKs the settlement, wolf management will return to the states of Montana and Idaho. Meanwhile, Endangered Species Act protections will be retained in the states where wolves remain threatened: Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and Utah . . .

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Further reading:
GYC press release
Press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior

Deal reached to lift wolf protections in Montana and Idaho

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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.

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Also see Earthjustice withdraws from wolf lawsuit , cites rift among groups in the Missoulian.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will negotiate wolf management with Wyoming

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Here’s a new chapter in the ongoing Idaho-Montana-Wyoming wolf management soap opera . . .

The head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that federal officials are resuming negotiations with Wyoming aimed at turning over control of endangered gray wolves to the state.

Federal officials have said for years that wolves were biologically recovered across Wyoming, but the species has remained on the endangered list there because of a law that allows wolves to be shot on sight across most of the state.

U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson in Cheyenne last year ordered the government to reconsider its rejections of Wyoming’s wolf management plan. The Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday dropped its appeal of the judge’s November order.

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Officials: Wolf population dips in Northern Rockies

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You’ll need to read the better part of this article to get the full context . . .

The gray wolf population in the Northern Rockies dropped in 2010 — the first annual decline since the animal was reintroduced to the region 15 years ago, federal wildlife officials reported Friday. . .

Fewer wolves in Idaho accounted for the entire 2010 population drop. Wolf numbers increased slightly in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington.

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Schweitzer: Montana will kill wolves that prey on elk, livestock

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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.

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Baucus and Tester introduce bill for state control of gray wolves

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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.

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Malloy’s ruling could further restrict wolf hunts

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This one is kind of confusing. Apparently, there’s a possibility of a technical change in the designation of the gray wolf population in the Northern Rockies that would affect the way the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is allowed to manage them . . .

A federal judge is asking if gray wolves should lose their experimental designation across much of the Northern Rockies  — a move that could mean new restrictions on when the animals can be killed.

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