Wolves are abundant, adaptable, flourishing and in the West to stay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported Feb. 2, rejecting petitions to list wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains as an endangered species.

Environmental groups had sought to bring wolves in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

The USFWS found a listing wasn’t justified. “Now and into the foreseeable future, wolves are likely to retain a healthy level of abundance,” the service said in a statement.

The decision does not change the legal status of wolves in Western Washington, Western Oregon and California, where they are federally protected.

Environmentalists react

Environmental groups sought to extend federal protection. The Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement it will consider challenging the service’s decision.

“By denying protections to these beautiful creatures the service is letting northern Rockies states continue erasing decades of recovery efforts,” the center’s northern Rockies program director Kristine Akland said.

There are 2,797 wolves in at least 286 packs in seven states, USFWS estimates. “This large population size and broad distribution contributes to the resiliency and redundancy of wolves in the Western United States,” the service stated.

Even under a worst-case scenario, there will be at least 739 wolves in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming for the next 100 years, USFWS projected.

More likely, the population will be between 1,300 and 1,600 wolves, “even with catastrophic levels of disease,” according to the service’s assessment.

Wolves also will likely continue to recolonize Western Washington and Western Oregon, become more numerous in California and Colorado, and possibly disperse into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, USFWS concluded.

Madden to lead dialogue

Although USFWS described wolves as abundant, it also announced Friday it will develop a first-ever nationwide recovery plan by Dec. 12, 2025.

USFWS in December announced it would start a “national dialogue around how communities can live with gray wolves.” To lead the conversation, USFWS has contracted with mediator Francine Madden.

Madden had a high-profile role between 2015 and 2018 in Washington, leading meetings of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf Advisory Group.