Building on the gray wolf’s conservation success story

Watching a pack of wolves hunt together is not unlike seeing a meticulously choreographed ballet. From my vantage point in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley, I could see a handful of Northern Rockies wolves work together to feed their pack. Each wolf knew their job and moved with intention far in the distance. This was back in 2009, two years before Congress acted to remove Montana and Idaho wolves from the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The story of the gray wolf represents an incredible conservation come-back. Nearly eliminated from the landscape in the early 20th century, to now being so strong in numbers, Northern Rockies wolves no longer require the protections afforded through the ESA and are part of a larger population in the Western United States. Wolves in the Northern Rockies continue to exceed recovery criteria and remain stable, which is why the Greater Yellowstone Coalition was not involved in the effort to relist wolves in our region under the Endangered Species Act.

On Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) found a petition by some conservation groups to add Northern Rockies wolves back to the ESA was not necessary, identified Western States wolves as a distinct population, and committed to initiating a process to develop a new national recovery plan for wolves. The agency has also initiated an effort to foster a national dialogue around how communities can live with gray wolves. We applaud FWS for these efforts. At the heart of the debate about wolf status under the ESA are concerns with state-level policies in Idaho and Montana that guide how wolves are managed, which FWS acknowledged in its decision. It’s clear that the states need to live up to their commitments to responsibly manage wolves and protect key populations like those in Yellowstone National Park.

Wolf management decisions that occur at the state level must be driven by wildlife experts, not politicians. We work collaboratively with states to advocate for science-based, balanced management policies to ensure wolves continue to play their critical role on the landscape.

Regardless of the legal status of Northern Rockies wolves, we’re committed to our on-the-ground collaborative conflict prevention and policy priorities that allow people and wildlife to thrive on shared landscapes. Wolves can pose challenges to the livelihoods of the people who share spaces with these animals, such as ranchers, and that’s why GYC invests in projects to prevent livestock conflicts.

The gray wolf’s story is long from over. Together, we can continue building on this conservation success story so that future generations have the opportunity to watch wolves play their important part in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

—Emilie Ritter, Director of Communications and Marketing