Earth Protect Blog

U.S, ruling applies only to those outside of northern Rockies

By Conrad Swanson

The Denver Post

Gray wolves once more are on the federal endangered species list, a northern California judge ruled Thursday.

The ruling prohibits the hunting and trapping of wolves in states outside the northern Rocky Mountains and those who harm or kill the wolves would face fines or jail time. It adds yet another layer of protections for wolves in Colorado, where they’re listed on the state endangered species list.

The ruling came from a lawsuit filed in early 2021 by environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club after then-President Donald Trump’s administration removed endangered-species protections for the wolves. The administration’s Fish and Wildlife Service had argued that gray wolves do not constitute a species and so didn’t qualify for protections.

U.S. District Judge Jeffery White wrote in his ruling that the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consider adequately the threats to wolf populations outside their core population centers in the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountain regions.

White’s ruling constitutes a “huge win for gray wolves” and those who care about them, Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said.

Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate for the Center, said the ruling means even more protection for wolves in Colorado. Anyone who harms or kills wolves in Colorado could face not only a fine and jail time in the state but also federal consequences as well, he said.

Robinson lamented that the ruling does nothing more to protect wolves in the northern Rocky Mountain region in places such as Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, where they can be hunted. He said he hopes additional protections for those wolves could be on the horizon.

“Wolves need federal protection, period,” Kristen Boyles, an attorney at Earthjustice, said in a release. “The Fish and Wildlife Service should be ashamed of defending the gray wolf delisting, and it should take immediate action to restore Endangered Species Act protections to all gray wolves, including those in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.”

Robinson added that the ruling should mean federal agencies must take a more proactive approach to helping wolf populations flourish once more in the country. With White’s ruling came a flood of celebratory remarks from environmental groups across the country.

The decision “will bolster recovery of western wolves — a keystone species wherever they exist — and improve ecosystem health more broadly,” Kelly Nokes, an attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center, said in a release.

Colorado has one pack of gray wolves living near Walden in Jackson County. State officials will begin reintroducing more wolves by the end of 2023 after a narrow and contentious statewide vote in 2020.

The Walden pack began stirring controversy in late 2021 after killing several cows and dogs, causing some ranchers to call for lethal management options, something ecologists and wolf advocates oppose vehemently.

Conrad Swanson: 303-954-1739, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or @conrad_swanson