The Center for Biological Diversity reports that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last month that it no longer intends to issue a nationwide recovery plan for gray wolves.
The agency found that “recovery plans would not promote the conservation of the gray wolf 44-State or Minnesota listed entities because listing these entities is no longer appropriate under 4(a)(1) of the Endangered Species Act and measures provided pursuant to the act are no longer necessary.” The agency stated that a recovery plan would not promote the conservation of the gray wolf, that recovery plans are no longer statutorily required and that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not develop such a recovery plan.
“This is a disappointing and dangerous policy reversal by the Trump administration,” said the nonprofit center.
“I’m appalled that Trump wants to strip gray wolves of federal protections and turn their management over to states that are dead set on killing them,” said Collette Adkins, senior attorney and carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Courts have repeatedly made it clear that our country’s gray wolves have not recovered in places like the southern Rocky Mountains and West Coast. We’ll challenge the Trump administration’s unlawful decision to once again abandon wolf recovery, and we’ll win.”
Adkins said the decision is unlawful because wolves remain protected under the Endangered Species Act in places like the southern Rockies, West Coast — including Sierra Valley — and Northeast. “These wolves still need recovery plans under the law,” she said.
