Wolf Management Chronology

1995

Photo US Fish & Wildlife Service

• First wolves arrive in Yellowstone National Park.
• A federal judge in Wyoming denies the American Farm Bureau's motion for a preliminary injunction to stop release of wolves from the Yellowstone acclimation pens.

1996

• Montana Stockgrowers Association files for temporary restraining order in Billings.
• Judge Downes denies motion for preliminary injunction by Montana Stockgrowers Association, meaning that a second shipment of wolves will be released.
• Soda Butte Pack is released in southeast Yellowstone.

1997

• The Yellowstone wolf population briefly reaches 100
• Judge Downes rules on the lawsuit brought against the reintroduction by the American Farm Bureau Federation, ruling that the FWS establishment of a nonessential experimental population of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park is unlawful and orders the removal of the reintroduced non-native wolves and their offspring from the Yellowstone and central Idaho experimental population areas, pending appeal.

1998

• This is a year of intense legal maneuvering and lawsuits arguing for and against wolf protections.

1999

• No significant actions occur.

2000

• FWS estimates that there are 30 breeding pairs of wolves in the tri-state Rocky Mountain Recovery Area of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
• FWS releases a proposal to reduce protections for gray wolves by "downlisting" the wolf from "endangered" to "threatened" under the ESA across much of the country, and to eliminate federal protections completely in other areas.
  

2001

• The Montana State Legislature removes the gray wolf from Montana’s list of predatory species once the wolf is de-listed.
• FWS estimates that 35 breeding pairs of wolves in 51 packs are in the tri-state Rocky Mountain Recovery Area; a total of approximately 550 wolves.
  

2002

• An estimated 663 wolves in 43 breeding pairs are counted in the tri-state Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Area at the end of the year.
• FWS determines that wolves have met the biological requirements for recovery in the Northern Rockies.
• Idaho releases its state wolf management plan.
  

2003

• FWS releases its final plan to down-list wolves across much of the lower 48 states. Wolves in the northwest Montana federal recovery area are to be managed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
• Defenders and 18 co-plaintiffs file a lawsuit arguing that the Service's decision to downlist the wolf is not based solely on the best available science, as required by the Act.
• The states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming submit wolf management plans to FWS.
• An estimated 761 wolves in 51 breeding pairs are counted in the tri-state Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Area at the end of the year.
  

2004

• The states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming submit wolf management plans to the FWS. FWS approves Idaho and Montana State plans and rejects Wyoming’s.
• FWS announces it will not proceed with a delisting proposal until the Wyoming plan and state laws are amended and approved.
• FWS proposes a new amendment to wolf management regulations under the Endangered Species Act which would deny wolves existing legal protections.
• An estimated 835 wolves in 66 breeding pairs are counted in the tri-state Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Area at the end of the year.
  

2005

• A federal district court rules that the FWS violated the ESA when it reduced protections for gray wolves across most of the lower 48 states.
• An estimated 1020 wolves in 71 breeding pairs are counted in the tri-state Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Area at the end of the year.
• The State of Wyoming petitions FWS to establish the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and to remove this DPS from the list of endangered and threatened animals.
  

2006

• Interior Secretary Gale Norton signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the state of Idaho that gives Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) wolf management authority for much of the state. The IDFG immediately announces a plan to kill 75% of the wolves within the Clearwater National Forest's Lolo district for the next five years. IDFG blames wolves for low elk numbers despite overwhelming evidence that habitat conditions, not wolves, are limiting those numbers. IDFG receives 42,500 comments regarding the Clearwater proposal of which over 41,000 oppose the wolf kill plan.
• FWS announces its intention to establish a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) for the gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains, and then to de-list this population.
• FWS finds that Wyoming’s petitioned action to establish the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population as a DPS, and to remove this DPS from the list of endangered and threatened animals, is not warranted.
• FWS rejects Idaho's Clearwater Forest wolf culling proposal.
  

2007

• Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter says he wants hunters to kill all but 100 of the state's gray wolves after the federal government strips them of protection under the ESA.
• FWS announces its proposal to de-list gray wolves in Idaho and other parts of the northern Rocky Mountains under the ESA.
• Wyoming and FWS reach an agreement regarding Wyoming’s wolf management plan, opening the door for FWS to finalize its delisting plan.
• Idaho releases a wolf management plan that would allow aerial gunning of wolves and potentially reduce the state’s wolf population to just 15 breeding pairs.
• Montana releases a plan for a wolf hunting season that could reduce the state’s wolf population to just 15 breeding pairs.

2008

• FWS finalizes a revised rule governing the management of wolves while they remain on the Endangered Species list, dramatically broadening the circumstances under which wolves may be killed.
• Defenders files suit against the 2004 Endangered Species Act amendment that denies wolves existing legal protections.
• Montana finalizes its wolf hunting season plan, which bars trapping but only for two years.
• Defenders and Natural Resources Defense Council petition the FWS to develop a national recovery plan for wolves in the United States.
• FWS releases a final rule removing gray wolves from the Endangered Species list.
• Defenders and 10 other conservation groups file a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the delisting of Yellowstone-area wolves.
• Judge Donald Molloy of the U.S. District Court in Missoula granted a preliminary injunction placing Northern Rockies wolves back under federal protection.
• The first known wolf pack in Washington State in nearly 70 years was documented near Methow, Washington.
• First pack of wolves is documented in Oregon since species was eradicated in the western USA in the 1930s.
• FWS rescinds its own wolf delisting rule - issued in March 2008. This places the Northern Rockies gray wolf back under federal protections.

2009

• The FWS announced that the Northern Rockies gray wolf will be taken off the Endangered Species List except in Wyoming where the species remains in danger of extinction because of inadequate regulatory mechanisms.