What about wolves?

People sometimes ask me when I give talks on endangered species in NJ about deer, bears, coyotes and even wolves. Well, NJ does have all of them (but wolves only in captivity, not in the wild as with the others) but the Endangered and Nongame Species Program is concerned with just that - endangered, threatened and nongame species. Species that have legal hunting and fishing seasons are not part of the program.

However, all of them are of interest on this site, because issues with other species are frequently connected to the species protected by the ENSP.

For example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently took the final step prior to the official delisting of northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves from the federal Endangered Species Act. The agency's delisting rule for the region's wolves was published in the Federal Register and that puts in motion a 30-day countdown to delisting wolves in the northern Rockies.

"The wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) has exceeded its numerical, distributional, and temporal recovery goals every year since 2002. The States of Montana and Idaho have made strong commitments to maintain wolf populations well above minimum recovery levels. In combination with continued U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) management in Wyoming, the NRM population will contain over 1,200 wolves at its low point in mid-winter. Therefore, the Service is designating a northern Rocky Mountain wolf Distinct Population Segment (DPS) that will include all of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and a small corner of north-central Utah. This wolf population will be removed from the protection of the Endangered Species Act [Act], except in Wyoming."

http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/wolf/Q&AWolfDelisting03282009.pdf

Whenever there is a delisting, it has both good and bad aspects. On the good side, federal officials are saying that "...threats to the wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountain DPS, have been resolved, as evidenced by the wolf population’s healthy annual growth, high genetic diversity, and wide-spread distribution."

On the other side, conservation groups are likely to challenge the delisting of wolves in federal courts (as they did previously to stop a wolf delisting rule released during the Bush administration that covered all of the northern Rockies, including Wyoming). They believe that the protection is being done prematurely. As an example, officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are already preparing for a statewide wolf hunt that will begin in September should the federal delisting stand.