Contacts
Georgia Parham: 812-334-4261 ext. 203
Ron Refsnider: 612-713-5346
On January 31, the U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon,
rendered a decision against the Department of Interior and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service regarding the Service’s Final Rule to Reclassify and
Remove the Gray Wolf from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
in portions of the United States.
In response to the court decision, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service has issued the following statement:
“ The Service is disappointed with the Court’s
ruling striking down the rule that downlisted gray wolf populations from
endangered to threatened in the Western and Eastern U.S. We believe our rule
provided for biologically sound management of the core population of wolves
in areas where we knew they could thrive as stable, viable populations. We
also believe the rule was correct as a matter of law under the Endangered
Species Act. We are currently studying the court’s opinion and working
with the attorneys at the Department of Justice to better understand its
implications and determine our future course of action.”
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 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small
wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national
fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management 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 Assistance program, which distributes hundreds
of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to
state fish and wildlife agencies.
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