NRA, SCI to Resume Court Battle to Delist Gray Wolf as Biden Administration Revives Trump-Era Efforts to Lift Species’ Federal Protections

For two decades, every science-based attempt by the Department of Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to delist the recovered gray wolf from federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections has been met with outrage and lawsuits from animal rights extremist groups that shop for a sympathetic judge to overturn the rule. Long embroiled in the vicious litigation cycle on behalf of American hunters, the NRA says there is renewed hope the gray wolf may be delisted once and for all—if the facts surrounding gray wolf recovery are finally allowed to speak for themselves—so that ESA resources can be used to aid species truly in peril as the law intends.

As shared by the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), last month the Biden administration’s USFWS filed an appeal with the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California to reinstate a 2020 Trump-era rule lifting ESA protections for gray wolves and  and returning their management to the states. The rule was overturned in February 2022 when U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White imposed his personal views on the scientific data underscoring gray wolf recovery and returned the species to protected status. The Biden administration’s appeal to reopen delisting proceedings was immediately followed by a joint brief from the NRA, Safari Club International (SCI) and the state of Utah underscoring the abuse of the ESA.

As noted repeatedly by NRA-ILA, the NRA has long supported legal and legislative efforts to return gray wolf management to the states. This position is in step with the fact NRA members and hunter-conservationists advocate for scientifically grounded methodologies that pair accurate, localized wildlife data with public conservation policy managed by state wildlife agencies. Removing ESA protections would not only allow states to better manage wolves but it would benefit hunters by allowing them to play a more active role in wildlife management and protect vulnerable big-game animals from over-predation.

Now the NRA ultimately will pick up where it left off in 2022, fighting for hunters in federal court. Present in Judge White’s courtroom on the day of the ruling were the NRA and Safari Club International (SCI)—two hunter-backed powerhouses that had intervened on behalf of the federal government in the three lawsuits extremists filed against the Trump administration in 2021 challenging the 2020 rule: Defenders of Wildlife v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; WildEarth Guardians v. Haaland; and Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. Department of the Interior. All were filed in the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of California. Other hunting, ranching and farming groups and several states also intervened.

The NRA and SCI were granted intervenor status after showing that delisting the gray wolf was appropriate based on its growing and sustainable populations and that its recovery was a testament to federal and state wildlife agencies’ conservation efforts. In September 2021, the Biden administration’s USFWS added its support, announcing the Trump administration was right to delist. Amid ensuing backlash from extremists, it reversed its position a month later and said it would review the gray wolf’s ESA status. The push to delist was moot a few months later when Judge White vacated the 2020 rule. (The rule did not apply to gray wolves in Idaho, Montana or Wyoming where they are already under state management.)

The NRA, SCI and America’s hunter-conservationists were forced to reconcile the fact extremists emerged victorious using arguments based on emotion over scientific facts. At the same time, they witnessed an abuse of the ESA by those driven to end all hunting as state wildlife agencies rely on legal, regulated hunting as a management tool to keep wild game populations healthy and within carrying capacity. Delisting ultimately means reopening wolf hunting seasons.

Readers of this website will recall that the NRA and SCI appealed Judge White’s 2022 decision and sent a joint letter to the Biden administration’s DOI. also urging it to appeal. Their position gained momentum in May of this year when the U.S. House introduced and passed the “Trust the Science Act” underscoring gray wolf recovery, which dictates that its federal protections be removed. Now, with the Biden administration’s appeal, hunter-conservationists are encouraged that it was for delisting before it was against delisting and that now it is for it again. Its 87-page September court filing attests to the fact “gray wolves no longer meet ESA standards of protection” and that they are no longer considered endangered or threatened.

In the meantime, those questioning the viability of the gray wolf will be pleased to know the species’ population in the Lower 48 currently totals more than 6,000, far exceeding recovery goals for the Northern Rocky Mountains and Western Great Lakes gray wolf populations. As for the three Lower 48 states where gray wolf hunting is already permitted—Wyoming, Idaho and Montana—Wyoming, for example, reports that gray wolf numbers are up despite delisting and hunting.

As shared by NRA-ILA attorneys, lifting ESA protections for gray wolves does not mean they would be completely unprotected. It only means wolf management, including the ability to hold harvests, would be turned over to the states. Doing so would not only allow states to better manage wolves, but every other species. It also would allow hunters to maintain a voice in the management and conservation of the nation’s wildlife.

While the courts so far have ignored the fact that gray wolf populations have exceeded recovery goals and keep relisting the species, the only gray area of the delisting issue is the gray wolf’s color itself. The truth is that ESA protections for gray wolves would have been lifted years ago if not for the well-funded animal rights extremist groups that plague the court system with emotion-driven lawsuits at every turn. These groups forced the federal government to continue pumping ESA resources into a species that didn’t need them—and now those resources are long gone. The real losers here are the wildlife species that truly needed and could have benefitted from those ESA protections.

As we hunter-conservationists await the next steps, be sure to check the NRA-ILA and NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum websites for updates as the NRA and SCI continue to have hunter-conservationists’ backs.