Source: Wikipedia

Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. James Oberstar are urging the federal Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to speed up the process of removing the Great Lakes populations of gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Outside of Alaska, Minnesota has the highest wolf population in the United States. A 2008 lawsuit by environmental groups put the wolf back on the ESA after the Bush administration removed it from the list. Klobuchar and Oberstar wrote to FWS director Rowan Gould stating the need to move quickly on delisting.

“We are confident that the (Endangered Species Act) has served its purpose and that the Minnesota DNR is ready and capable of ensuring the continued success of the wolf recovery and we urge you to consider the science and make your determination in a timely manner,” Klobuchar and Oberstar wrote, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

The process to remove the wolf has been complicated by technical errors by FWS, the article notes.

The federal government has given Minnesota more control over its wolf population due to the large number and a sufficient management plan to ensure numbers do not drop below 1,600.

Incidentally, Friday is Endangered Species Day, and the FWS notes the success in bringing the gray wolf back from the brink of extinction in the United States.

“The Endangered Species Act is the nation’s premier law protecting biodiversity today,” said FWS’ Gould in a statement last week. “The bald eagle, American alligator and gray wolf are all species which once found themselves on the list, facing the brink of extinction, but have successfully rebounded. The wood stork, Kirtland’s warbler, Louisiana black bear and Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle are still listed species that are showing good progress towards achieving recovery — the ultimate goal of the ESA. These species and many others continue to benefit from the protections afforded by the ESA and the dedicated people who work through the Act to ensure their continued existence.”

Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Friday that the federal government was removing the gray wolf from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act. Minnesota’s gray wolf population is one the nation’s largest, second only to Alaska.

“The recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act,” Salazar said in a statement on Friday. “When it was listed as endangered in 1974, the wolf had almost disappeared from the continental United States. Today, we have more than 5,500 wolves, including more than 1,600 in the Rockies.”

Minnesota’s gray wolf population was downgraded by the Bush administration from endangered to threatened in 2007, but a court case over-ruled that decision in September 2008. Gray wolf populations were also de-listed in the northern Rockies in early 2008, but a judge over-ruled that decision as well.

Minnesota has far exceeded its goals in its wolf management plan. As of October 2008, the state had a population of at least 2,900 with a goal to maintain a stable population of 1,251 to 1,400 wolves.

Salazar maintained the endangered status of gray wolves in Wyoming because that state offers the wolves no protections from hunters and livestock owners who perceive the wolves to be a threat to their herds.

Conservation groups have vowed to sue the federal government to keep the wolves –particularly those in the northern Rockies–on the endangered species list.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should be working with the state of Wyoming to create a scientifically sound wolf management plan,” Sierra Club representative Melanie Stein said in a statement Friday. “Northern Rockies wolves should be treated as one connected population. It’s short-sighted and inappropriate to delist wolves state-by-state. Wolves don’t know political boundaries.”