MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – U.S. wildlife officials proposed on Friday to strip federal protections from a growing western Great Lakes gray wolf population just as a some Rocky Mountain wolves would be removed from the endangered species list by an act of Congress.
About 4,000 gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula would lose their status as endangered or threatened species under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal submitted for public comment.
The announcement comes as the gray wolf is close to becoming the first creature ever taken off the U.S. endangered species list through legislation, rather than by scientific review, under a measure attached to the U.S. budget deal.
More than 1,200 wolves classified as endangered in Montana and Idaho would be de-listed by a "rider" to the budget bill, placing them under state control and allowing licensed hunting of the animals.
The measure, given final congressional passage by the Senate on Thursday, also applies to about three dozen wolves in Oregon, Washington state and Utah, and bars judicial review of the de-listings.
Essentially restoring a 2009 Fish and Wildlife decision struck down in court last August, the legislative de-listing takes effect within 60 days of being signed into law. President Barack Obama was expected to sign the bill on Friday.
In the Western Great Lakes region, the gray wolf population has exceeded recovery goals and continues to do well enough to be removed from federal protection, the wildlife service said. Each state also has developed a management plan to maintain healthy numbers of wolves.
The service estimates that there are 2,922 gray wolves in Minnesota, 690 in Wisconsin and 557 in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The proposal also covers areas of adjacent states where the wolves have spread from the three states.
"We are taking this step because wolf populations have met recovery goals and no longer need the protection of the Endangered Species Act," Fish and Wildlife Service Acting Director Rowan Gould said in a statement.
The service recognizes two species of wolves in the Western Great Lakes -- the gray wolf and the eastern wolf that ranges from parts of eastern Canada and the Eastern United States.
The eastern wolf was once regarded as a subspecies, but recent genetic studies found it to be a distinct species, and the wildlife service said it has now launched a review throughout the animal's Canadian and U.S. range.
The gray wolves will remain classified as endangered in the Western Great Lakes during the comment period, except in Minnesota where they remain listed as threatened.
(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Steve Gorman and Greg McCune)