Oregon Public Broadcasting

Conservation groups and the state of Wyoming are challenging the Obama administration’s decision to end federal protection for Rocky Mountain wolves. The wolves went off the list last month.

The two parties each filed lawsuits Tuesday, but for very different reasons. Inland Northwest Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports.

Put simply: the conservation groups want more wolves; the state of Wyoming wants fewer.

Suzanne Stone from the group Defenders of Wildlife in Boise says wolf biologists believe the region needs at least 2000 wolves to sustain a viable population.

Suzanne Stone: “We’re really close to that right now. We had 1650 wolves here in the region last year. Those wolves have had pups this year, so we expect that we’re going to hit that mark this year.”

That is, she says, unless the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are allowed to kill wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the three states must each maintain populations of at least 150 of the animals.

The federal agency also removed Wyoming from the delisting because it doesn’t believe that state’s wolf management plan is protective enough.

That’s why Wyoming is suing. It wants off the federal list and contends that it needs its own aggressive management plan to protect the interests of ranchers.