Science shows healthy wolf population

The most recent data compiled by state and federal wildlife biologists shows a healthy, diverse and stable wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountains.

The species’ recovery in the West from near extinction in the 1980s to a healthy population of some 2,800 wolves across 286 packs in seven states is among one of the most remarkable achievements in Endangered Species Act history. 

Having well surpassed recovery goals, federal protections for northern Rockies wolves were rightly lifted in 2011 through congressional authorization, and according to a decision last week from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that’s how it should remain.