Designating the Northern Rocky Mountain Population of Gray Wolf as a Distinct Population Segment and Removing This Distinct Population Segment From the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service, we or us) announces the reopening of the comment period for the proposed rule to establish a distinct population segment (DPS) of the gray wolf (Canis lupis) in the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) of the United States and to remove the gray wolf in the NRM DPS from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The State of Wyoming has a new statute and has advised the Service that it is appropriate to analyze a new draft wolf management plan that the Service believes could allow the wolves in northwestern Wyoming outside the National Parks to be removed from the protections of the Act. We are reopening the proposal's comment period to ensure that the public has full access to, and an opportunity to comment on, the proposed rule in light of this new information. We also announce the location and time of an additional public hearing to receive public comments on the proposal in light of the new information. If you have previously submitted comments, please do not resubmit them because we have already incorporated them in the public record and will fully consider them in our final decision.