Court decision upholding "legislative delisting" of gray wolves will not be appealed

June 15, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

According to KTVQ.com in Billings, Montana, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other environmental groups will not seek Supreme Court review of an appellate decision that upheld the “legislative delisting” of gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains region earlier this year.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s efforts to delist the northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) gray wolf population have been the focus of litigation for many years.  In early 2011, Congress instructed the Service to reissue a rule delisting the NRM population, even though that rule had been invalidated in court.  In March of this year, the Ninth Circuit upheld the law requiring delisting.  As reported, the failure to seek Supreme Court review means that the delisting is final.

Note that the NRM population was originally delisted by the Service because the total number of wolves in the region had been five times greater than the population recovery goal for a period of nine years.