DNR waits for petition decision on delisting Minnesota gray wolf

The Minnesota gray wolf should be removed from the federal government’s endangered and threatened species list and returned to state management, according to a petition filed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The DNR filed the petition with the Washington, D.C. office of the U.S. Department of the Interior on March 17 and asked the government to make its decision within the next 90 days. The petition is a procedural step between state and federal natural resource conservation agencies.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has tried to delist the wolf in Minnesota and the western Great Lakes region from federal protection on two occasions. Both times the decision was overturned due to legal challenges related to procedural issues.

“We filed the petition because it is time to have the federal classification match the Minnesota reality,” said DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten. “Federal officials agree that the Minnesota gray wolf population is not threatened or endangered. Theyagree our wolf management plan ensures the long-term survival of the wolf. They have seen it in action during 2007 and 2008, when the wolves in the Great Lakes Region were delisted.”

The Endangered Species Act allows states to petition the federal government to delist a species. Holsten said the DNR is using this process on behalf of Minnesota citizens who should not have to wait for national wolf conservation issues to be resolved when our state’s population is clearly recovered.

“Today, with a fully recovered Minnesota gray wolf population, we are asking the federal government to delist the animal to ensure that scarce resources for federally endangered and threatened species can be directed to those species that truly need protection,” he added.

The Minnesota gray wolf has recolonized portions of Wisconsin and Michigan, resulting in a multi-state regional population of about 4,000. The species achieved recovery in Minnesota as early as 1989, and is estimated at approximately 3,000. That is about twice what is required by the federal Eastern Timber Wolf Recovery Plan.