Conservation groups have notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) of their intent to sue after the agency did not produce a 12-month finding on the groups’ Endangered Species Act listing petition for the Northern Rockies gray wolves.
“The decision was due in July 2022, but conservation groups have gotten no indication that such a determination is forthcoming and are concerned about the absence of protection for wolves in the meantime,” Western Watersheds Projects wrote in a statement.
The notice said the groups filed a petition in July 2021 to emergency relist the Northern Rocky Mountains gray wolf population, to which USFWS found the groups to “present credible and substantial information that human caused mortality…may be a potential threat to the species in Idaho and Montana.”
If the agency does not make a determination regarding the wolf population, the conservation groups plan to file suit.
