Gray wolves subject of new recovery plan under Endangered Species Act as Colorado reintroduction challenged

According to a new settlement approved by a federal court, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must draft a new recovery plan for gray wolves listed under the Endangered Species Act within two years. The plan must promote the conservation of the species. 

This comes as a lawsuit moves forward over the wolf reintroduction in Colorado. Colorado Cattlemen's Association and Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association have filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado over the plan. The suit addresses concerns about potential impacts of wolf introduction on livestock and rural communities. 

"We've long pushed for a new, comprehensive plan to guide gray wolf recovery, so this win is a big deal for us and the wolves," said Collette Adkins, the Center for Biological Diversity's carnivore conservation program director and lead attorney on the case in a statement. "We're hopeful that the Fish and Wildlife Service will finally analyze what's needed for real wolf recovery in this country, rather than once again try to illegally and prematurely delist wolves."

In November 2020, a rule was finalized that removed all Endangered Species Act protections from most gray wolves in the U.S. A federal court vacated that rule in February 2022 and restored the wolf's federal protection in the lower 48 states. Those protections do not extend to wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, however, and are not currently not protected under the Act.