This is a pretty good article about the potential implications of the budget bill rider that will remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species List in several western states . . .
The White House is poised to accept a budget bill that includes an unprecedented end-run around Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in five Western states — the first time Congress has targeted a species protected under the 37-year-old law.
A pretty good AP article posted to today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
An attachment to a federal budget bill needed to avert a government shutdown would take gray wolves off the endangered species list across most of the Northern Rockies.
Wildlife advocates conceded Tuesday the wolf provision was all but certain to remain in the spending bill after efforts to remove it failed. Congress faces a tight deadline on a budget plan already months overdue, and the rider has bipartisan support.
It orders the Obama administration to lift protections for wolves within 60 days in five Western states.
Protections would remain intact in Wyoming, at least for now.
It now looks very likely that wolves will be removed from the Endangered Species List. Late last night, Senators Tester and Baucus successfully placed a rider in the “must pass” budget bill that restores the 2009 U.S. Fish and Wildlife rule returning management of gray wolves to state-level control in Montana and Idaho. The rider also prevents judicial review of that rule.
In other words, it looks like there will be wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana this year.
Here’s the actual text of the rider, as posted to Sen. Jon Tester’s web site:
SEC. 1713. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the order and judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09–CV–118J and 09–CV–138J on November 18, 2010.
Yeah, I know, another wolf post. But this one is a little different, not to mention pretty interesting . . .
Carter Niemeyer didn’t set out to become an expert on wolves.
For the first 26 years of his career, the author of “Wolfer, A Memoir” was the man behind the gun who killed predators that threatened livestock.
This week, Niemeyer will tell that part of his story in appearances around Missoula.
He’ll also let people know how he learned to appreciate the need to bring wolves back to the American West.
From today’s Missoulian . . .
Wildlife advocates are scrambling to remove from the federal budget bill a provision that would lift protections for gray wolves in Montana and Idaho.
John Motsinger with Defenders of Wildlife said Monday his group would continue to fight the provision “until it’s a done deal.” But time is running out, with final language for the bill expected to be released Monday.
From today’s Missoulian . . .
Conservation groups are asking Congress to hold off on pending legislation that would lift federal protections for endangered gray wolves.
The groups sent a letter to lawmakers Monday asking them to give a proposed settlement agreement on the issue time to work.
This interesting article was posted to the Daily Inter Lake. Apparently, wolf counts are usually minimum estimates. This new technique could be more accurate . . .
Monitoring wolf populations has never been easy and it’s gotten more difficult in recent years with an expanding wolf population in Montana, but now there’s interest in putting a new method to work, possibly as soon as this year.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials have been working with the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Montana for the last few years to develop a “patch occupancy modeling” for wolves . . .
From an AP article posted in yesterday’s Daily Inter Lake . . .
Lawmakers in the West said Friday they will keep pushing to lift federal protections for gray wolves despite a proposed settlement between environmental groups and the Obama administration.
The settlement would end a decade of lawsuits over the animals. But it faces significant legal hurdles that leave uncertain whether court approval will come before lawmakers act.
For those of you staying on top of the wolf-related stuff going on in this corner of the country, here are a couple of tidbits that appeared in the Missoulian earlier this week . . .
From Tuesday’s Missoulian: Feds recommend approval of Bitterroot wolf kills
And late Monday night: Gray wolf caught on camera above Missoula’s South Hills
From today’s Missoulian . . .
Carolyn Sime was honored recently as Biologist of the Year by the Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society for her decade-long effort to develop Montana’s wolf conservation and management program.