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Latest News

DELISTING, HUNTS, COURT BATTLES CONTINUE

(September 2009) A federal judge in Montana has ruled that wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho can proceed, potentially allowing up to 330 wolves in those states to be killed. At the same time, the judge determined that the decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior to eliminate endangered species protections for wolves in the Rocky Mountains was probably illegal--opening up the possibility that wolves will receive protected status again. The court battles continue...To stay up to date, visit the Natural Resources Defense Council's web page.

(June 2009) The U.S. Interior Department has announced that wolves will be returned to the Endangered Species List in the Western Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio), reversing a Bush administration ruling and just a few months since protections were removed. This change was due to legal action taken by a coalition of conservation organizations. Read about that decision here.

(April 2009) U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the Obama administration will uphold a decision made in the last days of the G.W. Bush presidency to remove wolves from the Endangered Species List in the Northern Rocky Mountains region (including Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, and parts of Washington, Oregon, and Utah). Similar attempts to delist wolves in this area had been ruled illegal by the courts because of the elimination of all protections (see below). In response, a coalition of environmental and wildlife organizations responded by taking legal action to ask the new administration to reverse the removal order. For more information, click here.

PAST VICTORY FOR ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOLVES

(July 2008) An injunction by a federal judge in Montana against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service restored Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Rocky Mountain states (Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) and effectively put a halt to a planned public hunt, lax restrictions on destroying wolves that predate on livestock, and other actions that could have decimated the region's wolf populations. Since the protections were lifted, at least 100 wolves have been killed in the region. This decision is a victory for the 12 conservation groups who are working toward the permanent restoration of protection for wolves through an ongoing lawsuit. Read more here.

LEGAL PROGRESS FOR THE NORTHEAST

• By late 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had decided to not appeal two U.S. District Court decisions earlier this year (see below) striking down the reclassification of gray wolf populations from endangered to threatened. Although this decision doesn't guarantee that Northeast recovery efforts will be undertaken, it does reopen the door to such a possibility in the future.

• In August 2006, the U.S. District Court in Brattleboro, Vermont ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the U.S. Endangered Species Act when it decided in 2003 to lump the Northeast together with the Great Lakes area into the “Eastern” Distinct Population Segment. The judge determined that the National Wildife Federation and its partners (Vermont Natural Resources Council, Environmental Advocates of New York, Maine Wolf Coalition, and Maine Audubon Society) were correct in arguing that the Fish and Wildlife Service had illegally ended federal wolf recovery efforts in the Northeast. To see the ruling, go to http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/GrayWolfOpinion.pdf

• In January 2006, a ruling by the U.S. District Court in Oregon rejected the 2003 decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service to remove protections for the gray wolf in some parts of the United States and to eliminate the Northeast as a potential recovery area. The decision said that the Fish and Wildlife Service had violated the Endangered Species Act--effectively restoring the wolf to its endangered status and reopening the door to possible wolf recovery in the Northeast. To see the ruling, go to www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/esa-status/j-opinion-0205.pdf

For more on CREW activities, visit the events page and the websites of member organizations.