More Confusion On Feds “Distinct Population Segment” Creations

The Western Institute for Study of the Environment (WISE) has a story this morning covering information they found on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Federal Register that officially places the gray wolf back on the Endangered Species Act list. This includes the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Oregon and Washington. Areas of Idaho south of I-90, southern Montana and all of Wyoming remain part of a “Nonessential Experimental Population”. Minnesota’s wolves remain listed as “threatened”.

According to the article, the USFWS was forced into doing this because of three court rulings. Those rulings, along with returning the wolf to federal protection, also force the USFWS to eliminate any Distinct Population Segments they created within the states listed, in order to delist the wolves. It was the ruling of Judge Paul Friedman in a Washington, D.C. federal court that said the USFWS did not have the authority to create these DPSs.

Where does that leave us in dealing with endangered species then? Certainly if the courts ruled that the USFWS can’t create smaller DPSs, then it would only seem logical that they don’t have the authority to create any DPSs, expand or modify existing DPSs. Friedman’s ruling also would have to bring into question as to whether any existing Distinct Population Segments are legal.

I’m am having difficulty accessing the Final Rule on this at the registry. All I have for information on this right now is what I found at my friends over at WISE. I’ll report more on this and provide a copy of the Final Rule once I’m able to get my hands on it.

Tom Remington

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• Grizzly Bears Back On ESA List. Molloy’s Science Trumps USFWS’ Science (3)
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