Wolves in Rockies will be delisted

BILLINGS – Wolves in the Northern Rockies will be removed from the endangered species list within the next year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday, a move that would expose the animals to trophy hunting.

The agency also will remove from the list a separate population of wolves in the Western Great Lakes region. Announcements on the two proposals are planned for Monday, agency spokeswoman Sharon Rose said.

Federal officials for months have been readying a proposal that calls for Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to assume management of the estimated 1,200-plus gray wolves in their states.

The plan would go into effect following a yearlong comment and review period, Rose said.

If the Northern Rockies’ proposal skirts expected legal challenges and becomes law, it would open wolves in the region to trophy hunting for the first time since an intensive wolf restoration effort began in the late 1980s.

While environmentalists promise to fight the agency’s proposal for the Rockies, hunting groups say it will not come quickly enough. But all sides agree the federal action caps a sharp turnaround for the long-beleaguered wolf.

By the 1930s, following a prolonged, government-sponsored eradication effort, gray wolves were virtually eliminated across the West. The animal was declared endangered in 1974, shortly after passage of the Endangered Species Act.

Federal and state biologists previously have said that each of the Rocky Mountain states will be required to maintain a minimum of 100 wolves, including 10 breeding pairs, or the animal would again come under federal protection. A buffer of at least five additional breeding pairs per state would be required to ensure the canine does not once again become endangered.