A judge in California on Monday barred farmers, ranchers and timber companies from intervening in lawsuits that seek to restore Endangered Species Act protection to gray wolves.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland already had granted intervenor status to the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International. The sportsmen will adequately represent the interests of the American Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups, according to White.
“This is surprising and disappointing,” said Chase Adams, senior policy director for the American Sheep Industry Association. “It will take an important voice out of this lawsuit. Certainly, (the sportsmen) don’t represent all the folks who could be harmed.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took gray wolves off the federally protected list throughout the Lower 48 in November. Three separate lawsuits challenging that decision are pending in the U.S District Court for Northern California. The three suits have merged into one case presided over by White...MORE
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