Contacts
Ron Refsnider 612-713-5346
Chris Tollefson 202-219-8104
Georgia Parham 812-334-4261 x203
A steadily growing gray wolf population in
the western Great Lakes states and a highly successful
reintroduction program in the northern Rocky Mountains have
prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the status
of gray wolves in these areas from "endangered" to the
less serious "threatened" designation under the
Endangered Species Act.
The reclassification rule, which finalizes
an action first proposed by the Service in 2000, also establishes
three "Distinct Population Segments" (DPS) for gray
wolves under the Endangered Species Act. The three DPSs encompass
the entire historic range of the gray wolf in the lower 48 states
and Mexico, and correspond to the three areas of the country
where there are wolf populations and ongoing recovery activities.
"Wolves are coming back, and their new
status highlights our progress toward recovering them across
their range," said Service Director Steve Williams.
"Our action today gives us greater management flexibility
for most gray wolf populations as we work toward the next step -
removing gray wolf populations from the list of endangered and
threatened species."
Wolf populations in the Eastern and Western
DPSs have achieved population goals for recovery, and Advance
Notices of Proposed Rulemaking are being published concurrent
with this reclassification rule to give the public notice that
the Service will soon begin work to propose delisting these
populations.
Under the Endangered Species Act,
endangered species are those that are currently in danger of
extinction. Threatened species, which receive many of the same
protections under the Act, are species that are considered likely
to become endangered in the foreseeable future.
"Threatened" is a more appropriate classification than
"endangered" for wolves outside the Southwest because
recovery programs have succeeded in reducing threats to gray
wolves and vastly increasing their numbers and range.
The threatened designation - which now
applies to all gray wolves in the lower 48 states except for
those in the Southwest - is accompanied by special rules to allow
some take of wolves outside the experimental population areas in
the northern Rocky Mountains. Under the Endangered Species Act,
these rules provide options for removing wolves that cause
problems for livestock owners and other people affected by wolf
populations. Such rules are possible for threatened species but
not for those designated as endangered. Wolves in experimental
population areas in the northern Rocky Mountains are already
covered by similar rules that remain in effect.
The Service will now begin the process of
proposing to remove gray wolves in the western and eastern United
States from the endangered and threatened species list, once the
agency has determined that all recovery criteria for wolf
populations in those areas have been met and sufficient
protections remain in place to ensure sustainable populations.
Gray wolf numbers in the western Great
Lakes -- estimated at more than 2,445 in Minnesota, 323 in
Wisconsin and 278 in Michigan -- have climbed beyond recovery
goals for wolves in the eastern United States. In the Rocky
Mountains, there are an estimated 664 wolves in 44 packs in
northwestern Montana, Idaho, and in and around Yellowstone
National Park. This is the third year the population has been at
or above 30 breeding pairs, meeting the recovery goals for number
and distribution in the west.
"Only a few decades ago, wolves were
well on their way to extinction in the lower 48 states,"
Williams said. "Today, Americans can hear wolves howl in
Yellowstone National Park or see their tracks in the snow in
Michigan and Wisconsin. These sights and sounds are ours to
experience because wolf recovery is being achieved in tandem with
measures that help people co-exist with wolves. Giving
stakeholders a voice in how we recover wolves has been the key to
the remarkable progress of this species."
To delist the wolf, various recovery
criteria must be met, in addition to reaching population goals.
Among those criteria are requirements to ensure continued
survival of the gray wolf after delisting. This will be
accomplished through management plans developed by the states and
tribes. Once delisted, the species will no longer be protected by
the Endangered Species Act. At that point, individual states and
tribes will resume management of gray wolf populations, although
the Service will conduct monitoring for five years after
delisting to ensure that populations remain secure.
In addition to reclassifying gray wolves in
most states from endangered to threatened, the final rule
establishes three Distinct Population Segments for wolves. The
Eastern Distinct Population Segment includes all Midwestern and
Northeastern states, and the wolf populations in Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Michigan. The new rule did not change the status
of wolves in Minnesota, where they were already listed as
threatened.
The Western Distinct Population Segment
includes all of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, along with
Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, northern Colorado, and
northern Utah.
The Southwestern Distinct Population
Segment includes all of Arizona and New Mexico, southern Colorado
and southern Utah, portions of western Texas and western
Oklahoma, and Mexico. This DPS will retain the status of
endangered; the nonessential experimental population designation
in Arizona, New Mexico, and a small portion of Texas remains
unchanged. This new rule does not affect the status or management
of gray wolves in the Southwest.
The rule finalizing the reclassification of
most gray wolves differs in several ways from the original
proposal. Rather than delisting the gray wolf in all or parts of
30 states, as proposed, the final rule delists the gray wolf in
all or parts of 16 states in the Southeast because that area is
outside the historical range of the species. Also, the final rule
combines proposed Distinct Population Segments in the western
Great Lakes and the Northeast into one Eastern Distinct
Population Segment.
Gray wolves once ranged throughout much of
the North American continent and occupied most of the lower 48
states, except for some southeastern and mid-Atlantic states.
Wolf populations in the United States began to decline as
European settlers moved west. Some wolves were killed for their
fur, but government predator-control efforts helped wipe out
wolves in much of their historical range. By the 1920s, they were
virtually gone from the lower 48 states except for a small
population in Minnesota.
Intensive efforts to recover wolf
populations began once wolves received protection under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973. Once they were protected from
killing, wolf populations in the western Great Lakes states began
to rebound by the mid-1980s. In the northern Rocky Mountains,
wolves naturally dispersing from Canada began recolonizing areas
in Montana by the 1980s, and Canadian wolves were captured and
released in central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in the
mid-1990s.
In the Southwest, 74 wolves have been
released into the wild in New Mexico and Arizona since gray wolf
reintroduction in the Southwest began in January 1998. Of these,
at least 21 remain free-ranging. Second generation wild-born gray
wolf pups were produced for the first time in the Southwest in
2002.
Wolves are numerous in Alaska, where they
were never listed as endangered or threatened.
The final rule reclassifying the gray wolf
will be published in the Federal Register.
For more information on the gray wolf,
visit the Service's wolf website at http://midwest.fws.gov/wolf To receive free updates on gray wolves, contact the
Service at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gray Wolf Review, 1
Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, MN 55111-4056; send an e-mail to graywolfmail@fws.gov or call the Gray Wolf Line at 612-713-7337.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the
principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting
and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for
the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service
manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System,
which encompasses 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of
small wetlands and other special management areas. It also
operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices
and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces
federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act,
manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally
significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat
such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their
conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program
that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes
on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife
agencies.
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