Lawsuit challenges wolf delisting

As promised, a coalition of wildlife conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday challenging the decision to remove wolves from protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The 12 groups maintain that wolves in the northern Rockies should not have been delisted because they "remain threatened by biased, inadequate state management plans, as well as by the lack of connections between largely isolated state wolf populations."

The federal government officially delisted wolves in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana on March 28, leaving the species to be managed under individual state management plans.

Since then, 37 wolves have been killed across the region, including 14 in Wyoming's "predator management zone" - an area covering about 90 percent of that state where wolves can be shot on sight.

That policy alone is prompting the plaintiffs to seek a preliminary injunction from U.S. District Court in Missoula to put a freeze on the state plans as soon as possible, according to Louisa Wilcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The plaintiffs also note in a press release that Idaho Gov. Butch Otter signed a law on the day of delisting that allows citizens to kill wolves without a permit whenever wolves are annoying, disturbing or "worrying" livestock or domestic animals.

"Not surprisingly, these hostile state laws have resulted in a wave of new wolf killings," the release states.

Caroline Sime, Montana's wolf recovery coordinator, said there are "definitely some differences in understanding about the regulatory framework" for managing wolves in Montana.

For starters, wolves maintain a protected status as a big game animal in Montana, similar to a black bear or a mountain lion.

"It makes them different from a coyote, which can be shot on sight," she said.

Montana's wolf management rules give citizens the ability to shoot wolves only if people actually see wolves "attacking, killing, biting, wounding or chasing" livestock or domestic animals.

Wilcox said the fundamental aim of the lawsuit is to compel the states to revise their plans with stronger commitments to ensure wolf conservation.

"None of these plans make a real commitment towards non-lethal conflict resolution," she said.

"Secondly, we need to get to recovery numbers that biologists say are needed for recovery," Wilcox said. "But the kind of killing that's going on is taking us away rather than towards that goal."

Since wolves were reintroduced to the Greater Yellowstone area in 1995, the combined populations in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho have grown to an estimated 1,500 wolves. The plaintiffs claim that number falls short of estimates that "independent scientists" believe to be necessary for maintaining secure populations.

Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission in February approved rules, dates and districts for a sanctioned, quota-driven wolf hunt that could be implemented this fall. But that hunt won't proceed until the commission determines quotas that would limit the number of wolves that can be taken by hunters in a given district.

The commission could develop quotas this summer, Sime said, "but a lot depends on what happens in the next month or two relative to litigation."

Wilcox said the lawsuit seeks to put a hold on Montana's hunt through an injunction.

"We don't have a problem with hunting, but we want to see a hunt occur in areas where wolves are fully recovered," she said. "The numbers are precarious enough … that we don't believe it's appropriate at this juncture."

Sime said the state of Montana will seek to intervene in the case.

"They have to take a second step to seek an injunction and we're not sure when they are going to do that," Sime said. "We're prepared to vigorously defend the [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's] decision to delist wolves."

Sime said Montanans, including livestock owners, have "stepped up to the plate" to allow the state to assume management of wolves, and they did so wiith an understanding that a hunt would be part of that effort.

"There are concerns" about provisions in Wyoming and Idaho's wolf management plans, she said, adding that "an extended legal battle over delisting delays the ability for Fish, Wildlife and Parks to manage wolf numbers and distribution. A delay in delisting for us is a huge concern."

The Earthjustice law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands Project, Western Watersheds Project and Wildlands Project.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy will handle the case. A hearing has yet to be scheduled.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com