Gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains will be removed from Endangered Species Act protections next month, the U.S. Fish and Wild Service announced Thursday. Management of the wolf population will be turned over to states on March 27. In states such as Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming where conservatives have shown rancor toward the predators that they see as threatening to ranching and other interests, state management plans have included sanctioned wolf hunts. The Sierra Club and other green groups disagreed with the decision to delist the wolves, arguing that the Rocky Mountain population still faces threats to their long-term stability, including a lack of genetic diversity. The groups said they’ll challenge the delisting in court. “The decision to remove protections for wolves is premature,” said Melanie Stein of the Sierra Club. “We still have a long way to go before wolf populations are sustainable over the long term.”
