U.S. won’t restore protections for wolves in Rockies, proposes national recovery plan

By MATTHEW BROWN and TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

Federal wildlife officials have decided not to restore protections for gray wolves across portions of six states, allowing hunting to continue in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced Friday that it has rejected petitions from environmental groups to return wolves in the northern Rockies to the federal endangered species list. The agency also said it will craft a first-ever national recovery plan for wolves. A federal judge in 2022 restored protections for wolves across most of the U.S. outside the Northern Rockies after the Trump administration removed them.