he U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with the environmentalists, finding that FWS couldn't rely on a nonbinding management plan from Wyoming as a basis for delisting the wolf.
FWS and Wyoming appealed the decision to the D.C. Circuit.
Oral arguments last September focused on whether FWS should have required Wyoming to ensure a buffer above a minimum population level. When it delisted the species, FWS decided against requiring a numeric buffer, reasoning that the state would maintain a buffer anyway because it's practical (E&E News PM, Sept. 23, 2016).
At arguments, Rogers questioned Wyoming's commitment to maintain a buffer, pointing to the state's court briefs that argued Wyoming has no legal obligation to keep the population above a minimum level.
In her opinion today, Rogers again faulted the state's position, calling it a "sleight of hand" that "may lend some credence" to environmentalists' concerns.
But, she said, FWS "exercised its judgment in a reasonable way" in concluding that Wyoming's management plan for the wolves was adequate.
In order to delist a species, the service must consider the state's existing regulatory mechanisms and a broad range of conservation efforts. The service is allowed to consider efforts that aren't legally binding, Rogers wrote.
The opinion also said that FWS has "years of experience in evaluating what is reasonably likely to be implemented and effective" and that it had looked to what happened in Montana and Idaho after delisting. Both states maintain populations "well above" minimum targets, Rogers noted.
The service could reasonably conclude that Wyoming's efforts were "sufficiently certain to be implemented."
The D.C. Circuit today also rejected environmentalists' arguments opposing Wyoming's unregulated predator area and alleging that FWS arbitrarily found that the gene flow between Wyoming wolves would be sufficient after delisting.
The Wyoming case is one of two lawsuits in front of the court over wolf protections. A separate lawsuit led by the Humane Society of the United States challenges the government's decision to carve out a population of gray wolves in the Great Lakes region to remove Endangered Species Act protections.
The issue in the Great Lakes case, which is still pending, is separate and of "more consequence," Bob Dreher, senior vice president of conservation programs at Defenders of Wildlife, said last month in Washington.
"It really raises the question of how the service can go about delisting portions of a large, wide-ranging species," he said.
Click here to read the court's opinion.
Like what you see?
We thought you might.
Start a free trial now.