Conservationists challenge Congress in wolf delisting bill

Missoula, MT, United States (AHN) – Conservationists on Tuesday accused Congress of violating the Constitution in removing wolves from the endangered species list. The animal, which was listed after nearly disappearing in the Northern Rockies four decades ago, is the focus of intense debate between nonprofits and states seeking to protect robust hunting and outfitting industries.

In a hearing, groups led by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies argued that lawmakers violated the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches when they passed legislation delisting gray wolves. Congress, they pointed out, only has authority to amend laws such as the Endangered Species Act, and not previous rulings from the court.

Government lawyers argued that Congress did not overstep its authority. Their arguments concerned solely the constitutionality of the legislation and not whether wolves had recovered enough to allow the animal to be hunted to protect cattle.

The proceedings, held in Missoula and presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy, attracted a number of ranchers who demonstrated in support of delisting.

The Interior Department removed wolves from the endangered species list after the Republican-held House passed a bill in April. The measure, authored by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), was one of a number of smaller, unrelated bills attached to the 2011 budget that Congress approved after intense partisan debate.

Simpson and Tester had introduced their bill in response to a court ruling last year relisting wolves as endangered. Despite opposition from some quarters, passage of the delisting measure and other so called “rider” bills was expected, even in the Democrat-controlled Senate, due to the budget deadline. Wrangling in Washington about the budget had left the federal government on the verge of shutting down, and lawmakers had to pass a stopgap measure several times to fund government operations.

The delisting covers wolves in Idaho, Montana, and portions of Oregon, Washington and Utah. Under the Interior Department’s final rule, the five states regained control of wolf managing under programs requiring a five-year monitoring plan approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wolves in Wyoming remain under the federal protection of the Endangered Species Act. The department is working with the state on a management plan that will likewise allow the delisting of wolves.

The issues of wolf predation and conservation have long been a source of intense acrimony in the Northern Rockies. States want the authority to hunt the animal and to cull whole packs to prevent attacks on livestock and elks.

Wolves in the Northern Rockies were listed as endangered in 1974 after the animals were nearly wiped out in the lower 48 states. The animals were re-introduced two decades later in southern Montana, central Idaho and in Yellowstone National Park as part of a federal recovery plan.

By 2002, the Fish and Wildlife Service believed recovery levels were reached and it subsequently removed wolves from the endangered list. But a court ruled last year that the agency had illegally delisted the animals in Idaho and Montana but not in Wyoming, forcing the government to re-list gray wolves as endangered.

The ruling also prompted Idaho and Montana to seek control of wolves in their jurisdiction to protect livestock and industries such as hunting, tourism and outfitting. The situation has been complicated by the different federal regulations that apply to gray wolves in southern Montana, where the re-introduced animals are considered “non-essential experimental,” and to wolves north of Interstate 90, which are considered endangered.

Montana, which defied federal law in February and authorized the killing of packs of gray wolves suspected of attacking livestock, plans to allow the shooting of 226 wolves during this coming hunting season.

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