August 31, 2012 – Wyoming’s thriving population of gray wolves no longer requires the protection of the Endangered Species Act, allowing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to return management to the State of Wyoming and write the final chapter in the remarkable comeback story of wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM).  Beginning September 30th, wolves in Wyoming will be managed by the State under an approved management plan, as they are in the states of Idaho and Montana.  Wyoming’s regulatory framework will maintain the State’s share of a recovered NRM gray wolf population in the absence of the Act’s protections.

The Service will continue to monitor the delisted wolf populations in all three states for a minimum of five years to ensure that they continue to sustain their recovery.  Although we do not expect it will ever be necessary, as with all recovered and delisted species, we may consider relisting, and even emergency relisting, if the available data ever demonstrates such an action is needed.

Basic Information:

• Press Release August 31, 2012 Service Declares Wyoming Gray Wolf Recovered and Returns Management Authority to State
• Federal Register Notice:  Removal of the Gray Wolf in Wyoming from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Removal of the Wyoming Wolf Population’s Status as an Experimental Population
• Literature Cited

Background Information:

• Timeline of Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Recovery Efforts
• Population Trends Across the Northern Rocky Mountain Region
• Map of the Greater Yellowstone Area Wolf Population
• Map of Pack Distribution Across the Entire Northern Rocky Mountain Region

Wyoming’s Revised Regulatory Documents:

• Revised Wyoming gray wolf management plan
• Addendum to the Wyoming Gray Wolf Management Plan
• Revised Wyoming State Statutes
• Management regulations
• Hunting regulations
• FWS approval letter

Other Information:

• October 5, 2011 Proposed Rule
• December 2011 Peer Review Report
• May 1, 2012 Notice Reopening the Comment period
• May 2012 Revised Peer Review Report
• Public Comments and Other Materials

May 2011 - The Service published a direct final rule delisting wolves in Idaho, Montana and parts of Oregon, Washington and Utah. This final rule implements legislative language included in the Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations bill. The Service and the states will monitor wolf populations in the Northern Rocky Mountain DPS and gather population data for at least five years.

• Federal Register Notice
• Montana Court Decision

April 2009 -- Final Rule to Identify the Northern Rocky Mountain (NRM) Population of Gray Wolf as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and to Revise the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife

• Federal Register Notice
• Wyoming Court Decision | Montana Court Decision | Federal Register Rule Implementing Court Rulings

February 2008 - Final Rule Establishing and Delisting the NRM Gray Wolf DPS

• Federal Register Notice (868 KB PDF)  
• Montana Court PI Order | Montana Court Order | Federal Register Rule Implementing Court Rulings

January 2008 - Final Rule for Revision of Special Regulation for the Central Idaho and Yellowstone Area Nonessential Experimental Populations of Gray Wolves

• Federal Register Notice   

February 2007 - Proposed rule Establishing and Delisting the NRM Gray Wolf DPS

• Federal Register Notice

August 1, 2006 - FWS Announces 12-Month Finding on a Petition to Establish and Delist the NRM Gray Wolf Population:

• Federal Register Notice

January 2005 - New Regulation (10(j) Special Rule) Allows Greater Management Flexibility of Gray Wolves for the States of Montana and Idaho:

• Federal Register Notice

2003 - Final Rule to Designate 3 District Population Segments and Change the ESA Status of the Gray Wolf throughout Most of the Lower 48 States:

• Federal Register Notice (670 KB PDF)
• Oregon District Court Decision | Vermont District Court Decision
  

1994 - Establishment of Nonessential Experimental Populations of Gray Wolves:

• Federal Register Notice (HTML)
• Federal Register Notice (6 MB PDF)

1978 - Reclassification of the Gray Wolf in the United States and Mexico, with Determination of Critical Habitat in Michigan and Minnesota:

• Federal Register Notice (1.1 MB PDF)

1974 - Gray Wolf Listed as Endangered in the Lower 48 States and Mexico:

• Federal Register Notice