[MCN] Lawsuit Challenges End to Federal Monitoring for Northern Rocky Wolves

[Matthew Koehler]

For Immediate Release, March 9, 2016
Contacts:  Andrea Santarsiere, (303) 854-7748,
asantarsiere at biologicaldiversity.org
Travis Bruner, Western Watersheds Project, (208)
788-2290
Gary Macfarlane, Friends of the Clearwater, (208) 882-9755
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746
Matthew Koehler, WildWest Institute, (406) 396-0321

Lawsuit Challenges End to Federal Monitoring for Northern Rocky Wolves


*Aggressive State-sanctioned Hunting, Trapping Should Trigger Ongoing
Federal Oversight of Idaho, Montana Wolves*

VICTOR, *Idaho*— The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds
Project, Friends of the Clearwater, WildWest Institute and Cascadia
Wildlands today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to extend the federal monitoring period for wolves in the northern
Rocky Mountains. Copy of NOI: http://bit.ly/1nwJV4v


The existing monitoring program, which is required by the Endangered
Species Act after protections are removed for a species, is set to expire
in May. Ongoing monitoring is crucial in the face of aggressive
state-sanctioned hunting and trapping that researchers say is putting
northern Rockies wolf populations at renewed risk.

When Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves were removed in
2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service said that the required post-delisting
monitoring period would be extended for an additional five years if any one
of three criteria were met. One criterion requires an extension if a
significant change in state law or management significantly increases
threats to the wolf population. While the Service anticipated that wolves
would be subjected to some hunting and trapping following delisting, the
agency did not anticipate the more aggressive tactics taken by the states,
including aerial gunning of wolves in remote areas, hiring professionals to
kill wolves in federally designated wilderness, and legislation in Idaho
requiring use of significant amounts of state funding to kill wolves.

“Gunning down wolves in remote areas of federal public lands that were
meant to be core refugia for northern Rocky wolves represents one of
several significant changes in state management that should trigger
extension of the federal monitoring period,” said Andrea Santarsiere, a
staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Wolves in the
northern Rockies need federal oversight now more than ever.”

Researchers have determined that wolves in the northern Rockies are at risk
of severe population declines. A study in the journal *Science*, released
in December 2015, found the Fish and Wildlife Service and states of Montana
and Idaho have underestimated the impacts and risks of aggressive hunting
policies for gray wolves instituted since protections were lifted. Hunters
and trappers have killed more than 2,300 wolves in the two states since
federal safeguards were first stripped in 2009.

“It’s too soon to stop federal monitoring of the wolf population, given the
hostile politics and anti-science policies of the states’ game and fish
departments,” said Travis Bruner, executive director of Western Watersheds
Project. “These animals still need to be protected from those who want our
public lands made into feedlots for livestock operations and game farms for
hunters.”

“The aerial gunning of wolves in the Clearwater Basin at the behest of
Idaho Fish and Game demonstrates the necessity of continued monitoring by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Gary Macfarlane of Friends of the
Clearwater. “This region consists of large wild areas where wolves should
be allowed to play their ecological role.”

“Extending the federal monitoring period for wolves in the northern Rockies
is the right thing to do scientifically, and ethically, to ensure that
wolves are not once again hunted and trapped to the brink of extinction,”
said Matthew Koehler, director of the Montana-based WildWest Institute. “As
a backcountry elk hunter I find many aspect of state management of wolves
in Montana and Idaho appalling and unethical.”

In January 2015 the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds
Project, Friends of the Clearwater, Cascadia Wildlands and WildWest
Institute filed a petition requesting that the Fish and Wildlife Service
continue monitoring northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves for an additional
five years. The agency has acknowledged receipt of the petition but has not
yet provided a substantive response. This notice of intent to sue
represents the next step in ensuring the agency does not prematurely end
federal oversight of these wolves.

*The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation
organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated
to the protection of endangered species and wild places.*

*Cascadia Wildlands educates, agitates, and inspires a movement to protect
and restore Cascadia's wild ecosystems. We envision vast old-growth
forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, and
vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia
bioregion.*

*Friends of the Clearwater **is an Idaho-based nonprofit conservation
organization** that works to protect the wildness and biodiversity of the
public wildlands, wildlife, and waters of Idaho’s Clearwater Basin.*

*Western Watersheds Project is a nonprofit conservation group with a
mission to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife through
education, public policy initiatives, and legal advocacy.*

*The WildWest Institute’s mission is to protect and restore forests,
wildlands, watersheds and wildlife in the Northern Rockies.*
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