So far, Idaho’s sales of wolf tags this week lack the enthusiasm seen in 2009, when the state first sold the tags for a public gray wolf hunt.

 Thursday’s announcement that gray wolves are back under state management in Montana and Idaho also included a warning: The federal government is watching.

Conservation Groups Challenge Wolf Delisting Rider
Lawsuit Seeks to Restore Federal Protection to Gray Wolves in Northern Rockies
Missoula, MT—May 5. Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, and WildEarth Guardians today filed suit in federal court in Montana against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for delisting wolves in Montana, Idaho, and portions [...]

Jeff Welsch, the communications director for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in Bozeman, wrote a guest column for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle regarding the next few months and years of state-run wolf management.

The following Press Release was sent out by Michael Robinson from the Center for Biological Diversity.

 House and Senate appropriators have agreed to include a bipartisan proposal to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves as part of a final compromise to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year.

 BOISE — Idaho senators Wednesday declared the gray wolf’s presence in the state a disaster emergency, following their peers in the House.

 Montana’s senator Jon Tester stood in front of his hunting friend over the weekend and said that regardless of the court settlement he will continue to seek a legislative declaration that wolves are biologically recovered, but he has a powerful opposition in the Senate.

Wolves faced two kinds of hunts during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy last Thursday.

Wildlife advocacy groups are feeling the pressure of an impending and dangerous legislative solution, which could strip the Endangered Species Act of much of it’s power and leave wolves in all parts of the country at serious risk.