Court: Western wolves wrongly denied Endangered Species Act protections

Today, a federal district court in Missoula ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it determined that gray wolves in the western U.S. do not warrant federal protections. Today’s ruling means that the Service’s finding that gray wolves in the West do not qualify for listing is vacated and sent back to the agency for a new decision, consistent with the ESA and best available science.

In January, 10 conservation groups challenged the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s denial of their petitions to list a western U.S. distinct population segment (DPS) of gray wolves under the ESA, or alternatively, to relist the northern Rocky Mountain DPS, which Congress “delisted” in 2011. A species is delisted when it is removed from the list of threatened and endangered species. Despite denying that the petitioned protections were warranted, the agency also concluded that laws and regulations in Montana and Idaho “designed to substantially reduce” wolf populations are “at odds with modern professional wildlife management.”

The court ordered the agency to go back to the drawing board and re-analyze threats to the gray wolf population in the West in accordance with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, including the requirement to use the best available science. Specifically, the court noted the agency failed to consider the species’ lost historic range throughout the West in its assessment, neglected to properly evaluate whether wolves in Colorado qualify as a significant portion of its range, failed to properly evaluate threats to wolves on the West Coast, failed to apply the best available science on population estimates and genetic threat from small population size, incorrectly assumed connectivity amongst wolves in the West would continue (despite high levels of mortality in the Northern Rockies), arbitrarily relied on state commitments to stop killing wolves at certain thresholds (without considering what would happen if they were breached), failed to account for unlawful take, and relied on inadequate state and federal regulatory mechanisms.

Despite today’s win, wolves remain in the political crosshairs. In January, Rep. Lauren Boebert introduced H.R. 845 to strip ESA protections from gray wolves across the lower 48. If passed, this bill would congressionally delist all gray wolves in the lower 48 the same way wolves in the Northern Rockies were congressionally delisted in 2011, handing management authority over to states. Regulations in Montana, for example, allow hunters and trappers to kill several hundred wolves per year—with another 500-wolf quota proposed this year—with bait, traps, snares, night hunting, infrared and thermal imagery scopes, and artificial light.

The conservation organizations that filed the case are Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Predator Defense, Protect the Wolves, Trap Free Montana, Wilderness Watch, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, and Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment. They are represented by the Western Environmental Law Center. Two other groups of conservation organizations also sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for its decision to deny the petitions to protect wolves across the West. The three cases were consolidated and heard together on June 18 in Missoula, Montana.

“The Endangered Species Act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the best available science, and that requirement is what won the day for wolves in this case,” said Matthew Bishop, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “Wolves have yet to recover across the West, and allowing a few states to undertake aggressive wolf-killing regimes is inconsistent with the law. We hope this decision will encourage the Service to undertake a holistic approach to wolf recovery in the West.”

“We feel vindicated by today’s ruling. Anti-wildlife politicians in the Northern Rockies are managing wolves back to the brink of extinction, and it has to stop,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney at WildEarth Guardians. “Today’s ruling is a huge step in the right direction, finally putting us back on the path to protecting this imperiled and iconic native species.”

“Today’s ruling represents a hopeful step towards giving wolves in the Northern Rockies the federal protections they so desperately need,” said Patrick Kelly, Montana director for Western Watersheds Project. “These native carnivores have been subject to years of brutal, unscientific anti-wolf hysteria that has swept legislatures and wildlife agencies in states like Montana and Idaho. With Montana set to approve a 500 wolf kill quota at the end of August, this decision could not have come at a better time. Wolves may now have a real shot at meaningful recovery.”

“This ruling could not have come soon enough, as the wolf populations in Idaho and Montana face extermination again. Without any scientifically sound means for counting wolves and open season, including bounties on their young, their fate hangs by a thread,” said Suzanne Asha Stone, a wolf and livestock conflict specialist who served on the Yellowstone and Idaho wolf reintroduction team in the 1990s. “Only the Endangered Species Act can save them now.”

“We’re hoping that this ruling is an important step toward finally ending the horrific and brutal war on wolves that the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have waged in recent years—including allowing and encouraging the wanton slaughter of wolves deep within Wilderness areas,” said George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch.

“Today’s ruling is an incredible victory for wolves. At a time where their numbers are being driven down to near extinction levels, this decision is a vital lifeline,” said Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense.