March 6, 2009: Bush Administration delisting decision upheld

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today upheld a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove gray wolves from the list of threatened and endangered species. The Endangered Species Act currently protects wolves living in the western Great Lakes and the northern Rocky Mountain states of Idaho and Montana as well as parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

“The recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act,” Salazar said in a statement. “When it was listed as endangered in 1974, the wolf had almost disappeared from the continental United States. Today, we have more than 5,500 wolves, including more than 1,600 in the Rockies.”

Much of that success is attributable to the reintroduction of wolf populations into Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s. Wolves were transplanted to the Rocky Mountain region from Canada as a check on burgeoning populations of elk and bison. As a result, wolf populations in the park have ballooned from 30-40 wolves to the 1,600 that Salazar cited in his announcement.

When plans to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list were initially broached in February 2008, environmental and animal-rights groups filed suit to keep the wolves on the endangered list. A federal court judge in Montana sided last year with the groups and determined that the animal's survival was at risk. In particular, the judge cited Wyoming as a state that did not have adequate provisions in place to ensure the animal's long-term survival after it is de-listed. In deference to this, the department will not remove Wyoming gray wolves from the endangered species list. - Copyright © 2009 CBS News

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