Wolves in court again

A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the recent delisting of gray wolves in Montana and Idaho, raising some of the same legal issues that blocked delisting last year.

But there is a new twist in the litigation - the plaintiffs will challenge the federal government decision to exclude Wyoming from its delisting rule because of that state's inadequate wolf management plan.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, "this move is in clear opposition to previously long-standing Department of Interior policy, which found that wolves in the Northern Rockies constitute a single population and could not be broken up on a state-by-state basis."

The lawsuit was filed by the Earthjustice law firm on behalf of 13 groups in the Missoula court of U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, who also presided over last year's litigation. Molloy issued an injunction in July that effectively derailed the process of states assuming management authority over wolves.

The Obama administration on April 2 proceeded with a new delisting rule for Idaho and Montana. Both states have plans to manage wolves through hunting, and ranchers now have the ability to protect their livestock from wolves.

The plaintiffs contend that the state management plans do not provide adequate protection for wolves.

"We look forward to one day seeing wolves fully recovered and under state management, but both the delisting plan and the state plans currently in place are not adequate to ensure the long-term recovery of wolves," said Suzanne Stone, northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife.

The groups maintain that Idaho and Montana "have refused to make enforceable commitments to maintain viable wolf populations within their borders."

"We couldn't disagree with the plaintiffs more," said Carolyn Sime, Montana's wolf program manager. "I think we have made enforceable commitments."

Sime said those commitments start with the state's classification of wolves as a management species, separating them from other animals such as coyotes.

Another issue raised in past litigation is a claim that wolves in the Northern Rockies are not adequately genetically connected.

Sime said Montana's wolf monitoring program, and commitment to future monitoring, will demonstrate that wolves have dispersed far and wide, allowing the state's population to increase from 152 wolves in 2004 to 497 by the end of 2008.

The plaintiff groups insist that the state plans would allow the regional wolf population to be reduced from 1,650 animals to 450, the minimum allowed under the delisting rule.

Sime said that would not happen under Montana's "conservative" wolf hunting plan.

"We're on record saying we're going to do more than the feds are going to require us to do," Sime said.

Last year, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission tentatively proposed a quota of 75 wolves statewide for the 2008 hunting season - a hunting season that did not occur because of Molloy's ruling.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is currently soliciting public comment on a quota in the range of between 26 to 165 wolves for a 2009 hunting season. The commission is slated to set a quota July 9.

"What about our track record suggests that we're going to drive wolves in the ground? I just don't see that happening," Sime said.

With only 14 of 150 lawmakers dissenting, the Montana Legislature recently passed a resolution sponsored by Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, calling on the state to "vigorously defend" the delisting and Montana's authority to manage wolves.

"I think Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the state fully intend to participate in this round of litigation and it's great to have the Legislature's support and the governor's support," Sime said.

In a separate lawsuit filed Tuesday, Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg asked a federal judge in Cheyenne to clear the way for wolf hunts in his state, according to The Associated Press.

Salzburg rejected claims by federal officials that local laws were too weak to protect Wyoming's 300 wolves.

"We have to attempt to protect our wildlife and our livestock in the face of really no help from the federal government," said Wyoming House speaker Colin Simpson, R-Cody. "If the only way to do that is through litigation, then that's how we'll have to proceed."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com