The Biden administration is seeking to reinstate a Trump-era rule that lifted endangered species protections for gray wolves in the United States.
In 2020, under President Trump, wolves were removed from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), returning management of gray wolf populations to state and tribal wildlife professionals, according to a Department of the Interior press release.
But after environmental groups sued the Department of the Interior over the dedesignation, a federal judge overturned Trump's decision in 2022 and reinstated protections for the species.
Gray wolves are currently protected under the ESA as “threatened” in Minnesota and “endangered” in every other state except those north of the Rocky Mountains, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but a new filing by the Biden administration suggests that the Trump-era ruling should be reinstated.
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Stebbins, a gray wolf from the Minnesota Zoo's exhibit pack, walks through his snowy enclosure on March 15, 2022 in Apple Valley, Minnesota. (Anthony Souffre/Getty Images)
Lawyers for the Department of Justice filed a petition with the 9th District Court of Appeals on Friday to overturn a court decision on the Trump administration-era dedesignation and lift gray wolves' protections under the ESA.
Washington officials set to vote to remove wolves from endangered species list
In papers filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, they argued that the court erred in overturning a Trump-era ruling on the species.
“The district court misinterpreted ESA's clear mission and compounded its error by imposing its own version of science,” the court documents state. “Its decision to invalidate the rule should be reversed.”
The Biden administration is seeking to reinstate a Trump-era rule that lifted endangered species protections for gray wolves in the United States. (Yuri Grypas/Abaca/Bloomberg)
In an 87-page filing, the Biden administration argued that gray wolves are no longer considered “threatened” or “vulnerable” and therefore do not meet the ESA's protection standards.
The court documents cited a 2020 decision by President Trump's Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service to remove wolves from the endangered species list.
“After a thorough analysis, the Agency has concluded that no form of wolf is threatened or endangered throughout all or a significant portion of its range. This analysis is well-founded and fully supported by the administrative record,” the report states.
The move comes just months after 20 House Republicans sent a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Administrator Martha Williams urging the Biden administration to remove protections for wolves, citing deadly conflicts with ranchers and farmers.
Wolves were removed from the Endangered Species Act in 2020 under President Trump. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
In February, the FWS rejected a request from conservation groups to reinstate protections for wolves throughout the northern Rocky Mountains.
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More recently, a bipartisan group of House members passed a bill in April to end federal protections for gray wolves and remove them from the endangered species list.
