An adult male from Oregon's Middle Fork Pack. Wolf advocates are suing to force wolves in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming back on the endangered species list. (Courtesy Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Wolf advocates told a federal judge June 18 that wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains should have federal protection until wolves are established in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, too.

Center for Biological Diversity attorney Margaret Robinson told U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, Mont., that wolves have not recolonized their historic range in the West and aren’t likely too without the broader protection of the Endangered Species Act.

Wolves trotting south through Idaho, Montana and finally Wyoming are being hunted, she said. “That makes it incredibly difficult for wolves to make their way down to Colorado,” she said.

Justice Department attorney Sara Warren said wolves are too plentiful in the northern Rockies to qualify for ESA protection. States are committed to keeping it that way, she said. “With this regulatory framework in place, the wolves are not endangered or threatened.”

Federal protection for wolves has bounced back and forth for decades in courts. At issue here is whether states or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will manage wolves in Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

States have more leeway to kill wolves to curb attacks on livestock. Environmental groups are suing to force USFWS to take back management from states. If Molloy rules in favor of wolf advocates, wildlife departments could lose the option of using lethal control, including in Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon.

To get federal protection, a species must be in danger of going extinct in all or a significant part of its range. USFWS interprets range to mean where wolves are now. Wolf advocates argue it should mean the “historic range.”

Colorado has high-quality wolf habitat and lots of elk for wolves to eat. If wolves can get there, as well as Utah and northern Arizona and northern New Mexico, wolf recovery in the West would really be under way, wolf advocates argue.

Warren said “historic” isn’t in the law. USFWS properly confined its judgment on the status of wolves to occupied territories.

Utah and Montana intervened in the lawsuit to help defend keeping wolves in those states off the ESA list. Idaho submitted a friend-of-the-court brief pointing out that the state has far more wolves than federal recovery goals.

Idaho estimated it had 1,150 wolves in 2023. Wolves are contributing to substantial declines in elk and moose populations, and are in chronic conflicts with livestock, according to the brief.

Molloy asked Warren what the states are doing to ensure wolves won’t be driven out again. “The difference between the 1930s and today is how we manage hunting,” she said.

USFWS took wolves off the ESA list in 2020 throughout the Lower 48, including in Western Washington and Western Oregon. A federal judge in California overturned the de-listing decision in 2022. USFWS appealed and the case is pending in the 9th Circuit Court.