Wisconsin Bow Hunters Association files petition with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist wolves

According to the Wisconsin Bear Hunters’ Association website, the organization has joined with other national and Midwest groups to petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the gray wolf in the Great Lakes Region. Some of the other groups include the Sportsmen’s Alliance, Michigan Bear Hunters Association and the Upper Peninsula Bear Houndsmen Association. The petition, one of a pair filings, asks for the recognition and delisting of the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population of wolves within Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and areas of other adjacent states. 

“Wisconsin Bear Hunters are firm in our conviction that our wolf population has recovered and must be managed responsibly by our state’s Department of Natural Resources,” Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association president Carl Schoettel said in a recent statement. “These petitions ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do what it has done several times in the past — delist wolves as they have fully recovered in out state. The science overwhelmingly supports this move but unfortunately past attempts to delist wolves have been challenged by animal extremist groups who have never set foot in Wisconsin and are driven by dangerous ideology, not science. These petitions put us on a path to right the wrongs perpetrated on Wisconsin’s citizens and our wildlife by these out of touch extremists.”

The petition points out that wolf populations have far surpassed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services recovery goal for the region. That original goal was set at a 1,400 threshold for recovery of the species with a minimum combined population in Wisconsin and Minnesota of 100 animals. 

The population, the petition said, now exceeds over 4,000 animals, including 2,700 in Minnesota, over 1,000 in Wisconsin and more than 600 in Michigan, which are conservative numbers by some estimations.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has delisted the wolves at several points in the past, but each of these delistings has been challenged in federal court. According to the Sportsmen’s Coalition, the courts in these cases have ruled against the delisting, “not because of a concern over the wolf population within the Western Great Lakes, but due to the FWS’ failure to address ‘remnant’ wolves that exist outside of established population segments like the Western Great Lakes and the Northern Rocky Mountains.” 

There has been repeated concern expressed by federal judges that a delisting would remove protections for those remnant animals. This is where the second of the two petitions came in.

 This petition is in regards to remnant wolves. The petition asks the FWS to create a West Coast Wolf Distinct Population (WCW DPS), which would include partially recovered and rapidly growing wolf populations in the west and south. The petition also directs the FWS to create a “non DPS” that would include all wolves in the lower 48 states not otherwise included in a DPS. This would effectively mean any wolf outside of a DPS would continue to be protected under the original 1978 listing.

“While not immediately obvious, these two petitions are following a blueprint established by the federal courts on gray wolds and the ESA,” said Todd Adkins, the vice president of government affairs at the Sportsmen’s Alliance in a statement. “Instead of a quick fix, this is a long-term strategy to get wolf management back in the state agencies where it belongs instead of locked up in litigation brought by extremists to keep their fund-raising juggernaut running full steam 24-7, 365.”

Both Michigan and Minnesota have recently updated their state’s wolf management plans, and Wisconsin is in the process of revising its current draft plan with the intention to send that plan to the Natural Resources Board by its October meeting. The states are attempting to show, through their plans, that the are fully capable of responsibly managing the wolf populations in their state. 

All involved in the petition have stated the wolves should be delisted as their numbers have rebounded significantly no longer warrant protection under the ESA. The petitions call for a return of management of the species to the individual states, who they argue are better equipped to manage them.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].