States left out of delisting decisions
Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Oregon and Washington, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and a number of other key states are not delisted, or will not be able to undertake proactive state wolf management activities, as a result of these delisting decisions. Additionally, concerns remain that ongoing federal involvement in state management decisions, could lead to further federal restrictions or even potentially lead to unnecessary relisting of wolves.


We agree with USFWS’s assessment that Gray Wolf populations have recovered and should be delisted. However, we remain very concerned that administrative delisting does nothing to stop the litigation that has been used repeatedly to derail previous final delisting rules. It takes just one group or individual to file a lawsuit to block wolf delisting. In fact, one group has already indicated they will not hesitate to challenge Western Great Lakes delisting in court. Given the newly filed wolf lawsuits it is clear that without Congressional action, open ended ESA lawsuits remain a serious concern for delisting of wolf populations in the Western Great Lakes.