September 15, 2004
September
2004 -- Efforts to
bring back the gray wolf from the brink of extinction in Wisconsin,
Michigan and
Minnesota have been so
successful that the animal is being proposed for delisting.
Department of
Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary Craig Manson announced
July 16,
2004, a proposal to
delist wolves in the Eastern Distinct Population Segment
(DPS).
The federal
action applies only to the eastern half of the
United
States and will have
the most effect on Minnesota,
Wisconsin and
Michigan, where gray
wolves have rebounded beyond expectation.
The hand-over
will take at least a year and will mean that states can start wolf trapping and
hunting seasons. Minnesota,
Wisconsin and
Michigan each have a
new wolf-management plan in preparation for the
delisting.
The two other populations of gray wolves in the
lower 48 states, the western population located in the Rocky Mountain
states of
Idaho,
Wyoming and
Montana, and the
southwestern population of Mexican gray wolves, will continue to be listed under
the Act.
The Eastern
DPS extends from
the Dakotas,
Nebraska and
Kansas to the East
Coast. The southern boundary includes Missouri,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Ohio,
Pennsylvania and
New
Jersey, and the
Canadian border as its northern boundary. The proposal does not affect red
wolves in the southeastern United
States, which also
are listed by the Endangered Species Act.
The requirements of the Act will remain in
effect for wolves in the Eastern
DPS until the
proposal is finalized.
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