quote:

Interesting how about two months ago, the only talk was about appealing Judges decisions – a 3-5 year process that is then subject to yet another appeal. We started preparing in March of this year, knowing the litigation solution was NO solution.

There is no question that the Efforts by Sen. Hatch, Crapo, Risch, Barrosso and Enzie, and Rep. Rehberg and Matheson and others are FORCING the agenda. There have been a lot of interesting conversations going on today with HIGH level people who are now motivated to solve this issue with Congressional Action. As I said, the Tide has turned, now we must push the ball through the red zone into the end zone



See below:



CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the governors of the three Rocky Mountain states met Monday in Denver to try to figure out how to turn management of wolves over to the states — including the possibility that Congress could specify that the wolf population is fully recovered.

Salazar met with Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Wyoming Gov.-elect Matt Mead. All three states are anxious to reduce wolf numbers to protect other wildlife and reduce livestock attacks.

"The frustration from both the governors and the secretary is that everybody recognizes that the (wolf) population is not only recovered, but it is robust," Freudenthal said after the meeting. "And why we can't get to delisting, I think, is very frustrating for all of the people sitting around that table."

The federal government originally said it wanted to achieve a wolf population of 300 wolves when it started its reintroduction program in the Northern Rockies in the 1990s. Biologists say there are now at least 1,700 wolves in parts of six states.

Yet environmental groups, through a series of legal challenges over several years, have stymied efforts to transfer wolf management from the federal government to the states.

Wyoming insists on classifying wolves as predators that could be shot on sight in most of the state, a position that has provided the environmental groups' lawyers with most of their legal ammunition. Wyoming proposes to regulate hunting of wolves only in a "recovery area," in the northwest corner of the state, on lands generally bordering Yellowstone National Park.

As the legal tangle over wolf management in the Northern Rockies now stands, one federal judge in Montana ruled this summer that Montana and Idaho can't take over wolf management as long as the federal government continued to manage them in Wyoming. That blocked Montana and Idaho from holding regulated wolf hunts this fall as they had planned.

But another federal judge in Wyoming ruled this month that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was wrong to reject Wyoming's plan in the first place.

Experts differ on whether the judges' rulings are contradictory. And the federal government also hasn't said whether it intends to appeal the ruling in the Wyoming case.

Freudenthal said there was no talk at Monday's meeting about trying to resolve things through the courts. But he said there was much discussion about possible congressional action to end things once and for all.

If Congress does act, Freudenthal said it won't be to try to exempt wolves from protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act, as some have suggested. {???}

"It's not an attempt to exempt them," he said. "It's to recognize that the population is recovered, and to proceed to recognize that and to try to eliminate the continued litigation that makes it impossible for either the federal government or the states to manage wolf population."

Freudenthal said possible congressional action could be as soon as this year.

"They're looking at something in the near term," he said. "I think it's a fair question why this legislation couldn't be addressed later, but there seems to be some interest in moving quickly."

Freudenthal said some officials of the Fish and Wildlife Service planned to travel to Cheyenne on Monday to meet with his staff and with Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg.

Freudenthal said Wyoming and the other states haven't committed to anything. And while he emphasized that Wyoming is open to talking about changes it tactics, he said it's not willing to change its fundamental principle that it needs to be able to manage wolves as it sees fit outside the "recovery area."

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Freudenthal said Wyoming and the other states haven't committed to anything. And while he emphasized that Wyoming is open to talking about changes it tactics, he said it's not willing to change its fundamental principle that it needs to be able to manage wolves as it sees fit outside the "recovery area."

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Originally posted by kudu56:
Pro-wolf judge retires, I wonder how this will affect things?

A federal judge who restored endangered species protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho plans to retire from active service next year.U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula announced through his office that he will take senior status in August, the Billings Gazette reported Thursday.That means he will retire from active service, but senior judges can continue to hear cases. Molloy’s office told the Gazette he intends to maintain a substantial case load.Molloy, 64, did not give a reason for his decision. Neither Molloy nor his staff returned a call made to his chambers by The Associated Press on Thursday. Molloy has written some of the more controversial court rulings in the state during his 14 years on the bench, most recently placing wolves in Montana and Idaho back on the list of threatened and endangered species. Molloy said in his ruling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a political decision that went against the federal Endangered Species Act when the agency turned over management of wolves in Montana and Idaho to those states, while leaving federal protections in place in Wyoming. He said the entire region’s wolf population must either be listed as endangered or removed from the list, but the protections can’t be different for each state. The ruling canceled plans by the two states to hold wolf hunts this winter and led to out cryamong politicians, ranchers and hunters who say the wolf population has grown too much. In 2009, Molloy ruled that Yellowstone area grizzly bears must stay on the list of threatened and endangered species,after the FWS said grizzlies in and around the national park had recovered from near extermination. Molloy said then that climat echange and lax regulations threatened to undermine the bears’ recovery. Molloy has also blocked Montana and other states from opting out of following federal gun laws, halted logging sales and declared a U.S. Forest Service plan for dropping retardant on fires to be illegal. Critics call him an activist judge, but Molloy’s reputation is high in legal circles. “He’s known and highly respected by the judicial community throughout the country,” said U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull of Billings. “He’s served on numerous conferences and committees throughout the circuit. He’s really distinguished himself. ”Molloy is a native of Butte and grew up in Malta. He graduated from law school the University of Montana in 1976 and clerked for U.S. District Judge James Battin. Molloy had a private civil practice in Billings before he was appointed to the bench in 1996 by President Bill Clinton in consultation with Democratic Sen. Max Baucus.


All I can say, "Good Riddance"!

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Originally posted by billinthewild:
Enironmentalist bullshit. That coupled with Judges who lean to the green side. It is also a question of state's rights for me. What is endangered is not the wolf it is the right of the states to make serious decisions about their own wildlife resources.