On Thursday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially re-published a 2009 rule removing the gray wolf’s federal protection under the Endangered Species Act in most states of the Northern Rockies.
The re-issued rule was immediately challenged in court by three environmental groups. The groups claim that the rule, mandated by an April budget rider, is unconstitutional because “it specifically repeals a judicial decision,” rather than merely amending the Endangered Species Act.
The environmental groups – Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, and WildEarth Guardians – filed the lawsuit in a Montana federal court. A federal judge in Montana last year struck down the rule.
“Congress has never before delisted species from the Endangered Species list,” Alliance for the Wild Rockies Executive Director Michael Garrity wrote in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
“We will not allow the fate of endangered species to be determined by politicians serving special interests,” Garrity wrote.
“Legislators can’t pick off specific court decisions they don’t like. That’s not fair for the wolf, and it’s certainly not good for our democracy,” Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians wrote in the release.
Gary Macfarlane of Friends of the Clearwater wrote that the wolf “is being unfairly targeted out of ignorance and intolerance and now lacks a federal shield from killing.”
Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who, along with fellow Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, claimed credit for the Senate-side origins of the rider, praised the publication of the rule.
“Today’s news puts an end to our hard-fought battle to return wolves in Montana to Montana management,” Baucus said in a press release. “It’s about time the federal government puts Montanans back in control and end this debate for good.”
Baucus continued, “I’m proud to see Montana ranchers and hunters finally get the certainty they deserve once and for all.”
The budget rider stated that the re-issuance of the rule “shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the order and judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09–CV–118J and 09–CV–138J on November 18, 2010.”
The rule states that “gray wolves in Montana and Idaho, as well as portions of eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and north-central Utah, are removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.” The gray wolf has not been removed from federal protection in Wyoming.