WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice today of its intent to sue the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service for refusing to develop a national gray wolf recovery plan under the Endangered Species Act. The notice comes two years after the Center won a similar lawsuit.

Last month the Trump administration published a finding that protecting the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act is “no longer appropriate” and that the agency would not be preparing an updated recovery plan.

“We’re challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful decision to once again abandon wolf recovery, and we’ll win,” said Collette Adkins, a senior attorney and the carnivore conservation director at the Center. “The Fish and Wildlife Service must live up to the reality of what science and the law demand. That means a comprehensive plan that addresses gray wolf recovery across the country.”

The agency’s recent finding reflects a policy reversal by the Trump administration. Last year, the Service under the Biden administration announced that a national recovery plan for gray wolves would be a central feature of its “long term and durable approach to the conservation of gray wolves.” That announcement stemmed from an agreement following a 2022 Center lawsuit seeking a national wolf recovery plan.

Recovery plans should describe actions needed to achieve the full recovery of animals and plants protected under the Endangered Species Act. The gray wolf’s outdated recovery plan was developed in 1992 and mostly focuses on Minnesota. It neglects other places where wolves live and could recover, like the West Coast, southern Rocky Mountains and northeastern United States.

Under the first Trump administration, the Service stripped gray wolves of their federal protections. Before a federal court restored those protections, hundreds of wolves were hunted and trapped under state management.

“We know that Trump’s plan to strip gray wolves of lifesaving protections will be a disaster because we’ve seen it before,” said Adkins. “This cycle of on-and-off again protections must end. Wolves deserve to be safe and that’s why we keep fighting for them.”

The Endangered Species Act requires that parties submit a 60-day notice of intent to sue before a lawsuit can be filed. The Center intends to file its formal lawsuit in early February.

Background

After protecting gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act, the agency’s wolf-recovery planning focused on wolf populations in three separate geographic areas: the “eastern timber wolf” in Minnesota, the now-delisted gray wolf population in the northern Rocky Mountains and the separately listed Mexican gray wolf in the Southwest.

Decades later there’s still no comprehensive plan that addresses gray wolf recovery across the country. Many areas where wolves live and breed — and where their reestablishment is in its infancy, like California and Colorado — have no federal plan to guide their recovery.

Federal protections have allowed the nation’s wolf population to increase slowly, but only to about 1% of their historical numbers and occupying only about 15% of their historical range. Despite this the Service has routinely attempted to remove protection from wolves.

In November 2020 the Trump administration finalized a rule that removed all Endangered Species Act protections from most gray wolves nationwide. A federal court vacated that rule in February 2022 and restored the wolf’s federal protection in the lower 48 states, excluding wolves in the northern Rocky Mountain states. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s appeal of that ruling remains pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Although the gray wolf’s current Endangered Species Act protections do not extend to wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, the Center and its allies recently won a lawsuit aimed at restoring federal protections to wolves in that region. The Trump administration is appealing that ruling.