Wolf Delisting Survives Budget Fight

House and Senate appropriators have agreed to include a bipartisan proposal to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves as part of a final compromise to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The agreement came just hours before a federal judge in Montana rejected (pdf) a more limited delisting proposal by environmentalists and the federal government that would have returned wolf management to Idaho and Montana but would have required other steps to ensure a continued recovery of the species throughout the northern Rockies states. The legislative proposal by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) -- apparently one of the only environmental policy riders to survive tense budget negotiations late last week -- would have nullified the settlement even if it had been approved by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy. Both lawmakers have argued that the budget rider is necessary to bring relief to hunters, ranchers and wildlife officials in their states who have warned that wolves are preying on livestock and causing serious declines in big-game herds...more