The Biden administration has requested a federal appeals court to reinstate a Trump-era rule that removed Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves across the U.S. If the court sides with the administration, it could place the species under state oversight, opening the door for hunting to resume in areas like the Great Lakes region, where hunting had been paused following a 2022 court order.
Court Battle Over Wolf Protections
The appeal, filed Friday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, marks the Biden administration’s first formal step to reverse the restoration of wolf protections. These protections were reinstated after environmental groups successfully challenged the Trump administration’s decision to delist gray wolves from the ESA. While the case is pending, gray wolves will remain protected.
Controversy Over State Control
If successful, this move could shift wolf management back to individual states, where many conservationists fear hunting could lead to overharvesting of the species. Gray wolves have repopulated certain regions of the western U.S., leading to conflicts with livestock farmers and hunters concerned about wolves preying on deer and elk.
Vanessa Kauffman, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, emphasized that their goal is to allow wolves to thrive while considering the needs of local communities. Livestock and hunting groups, the National Rifle Association, and Republican-led states like Utah have supported the push for state control. However, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other environmental groups remain firmly opposed.
The Long-Running Debate Over Wolf Recovery
Attempts to roll back wolf protections have been ongoing since the first term of former President George W. Bush. Wolves were first granted federal protection in 1974 after widespread extermination campaigns. Despite repeated efforts to delist them, environmental lawsuits have repeatedly restored their endangered status.
Environmental advocates argue that protections are necessary to ensure long-term recovery. “While wolves are protected, they do very well, and when they lose protections, that recovery backslides,” said Collette Adkins from the Center for Biological Diversity.
Shifting Landscape for Wolves Across the U.S.
As it stands, wolf populations in the Great Lakes region number more than 4,000, while over 2,000 wolves are found in the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest. In the northern Rocky Mountains, federal protections were lifted by Congress in 2011, and since then, thousands of wolves have been killed under state-sanctioned hunts.
States such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota briefly resumed wolf hunting under the Trump-era rule. However, Wisconsin hunters exceeded state harvest limits in 2021, killing almost twice the planned number of wolves during a brief hunting season.
