FWS denies petitioning to delist within weeks before a new administration takes office with new appointees to head crucial agencies that determine the fate of Wisconsin’s wolves. Both have heavy ties to oil & gas and Monsanto.
First, let’s take a look at the good news.
US Fish and Wildlife Service has denied petitions to remove protections for wolves. The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, Wisconsin Bear Hunters’ Association, Michigan Bear Hunters Association, and Upper Peninsula Bear Houndsmen Association filed petitions with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a year ago. The pro-wolf hunt groups argue that wolves have recovered in the western Great Lakes region and West Coast states.
The groups claim the agency should delist populations of gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region and the West Coast because the animals have recovered. They said removing federal wolf protections was warranted in the Great Lakes region.
The agency, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Interior, in its decision disagrees with the group’s petitions.
“Based on our review, the petitions do not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned actions may be warranted.”
Many pro-wolf organizations are pleased with the agency’s decision to deny the petitions of pro-wolf hunt groups for delisting. While this decision is good news, I ask whether it is only temporary?
Will Wisconsinites witness another brutal wolf hunt under the Trump Administration? The fate of Ma’iingan (wolf) in the hands of the Trump Administration led to a hunt that made news worldwide. History will likely repeat itself as Trump’s picks to lead the Interior Departments and the US Fish & Wildlife Services nominees are proponents of the Oil & Gas extractive industry that wants the land.
And guess what endangered species is in their way?
The Endangered Species Act protects the species and the land they depend on. I won’t hold my breath on whether the Trump administration will follow the recent decision not to delist the wolf. This has happened before. Most recently, in 2020 under Guess Who? You got it if you said the Trump Administration.
In 2020, the gray wolf was delisted from the Endangered Species Act in the contiguous United States and Mexico by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It led to a fight over when to hold a wolf hunt.
Wolves were delisted in 2020, and in January, the fight began. Fringe hunters were chomping at the bit; in February 2021, they got their trophy wolf hunt because a conservative advocacy group filed a lawsuit and won. In February, the hunters exceeded their quota, causing a controversy.
February 2021 wolf hunt went over quota taking the tribe’s portion plus more. A total of 218 wolves were harvested by state license holders. Of the 218 wolves harvested, hunting accounted for 208 wolves (95% of total take) while trapping accounted for 10 wolves 3(5% of total take). Of the 208 wolves taken by hunters, 188 (86%) were taken with the aid of trailing hounds, 16 (7%) were taken with the aid of predator calls and 4 (2%) were taken by stand/still hunting. Of the 10 taken by trappers, 7 (3%) were taken with foothold traps and 3 (2%) were taken with cable restraints WDNR Data
Wisconsin Gray wolf taken in the February 2021 hunt. Image from Wisconsin Wolf Hunting Facebook page. Caption read: Another one from somewhere in Wisconsin. We’re not sure on the details. Looks like Tomahawk area.
Of the 208 wolves taken by hunters, 188 (86%) were taken with the aid of trailing hounds.
Six Chippewa tribes filed a lawsuit on Sept. 21 seeking to block the November hunt, saying hunters killed too many wolves during the state’s February season and kill quotas from the fall hunt aren’t grounded in science.
At the time I thought the Six Ojibwa Tribe’s Lawsuit had the strongest case yet to settle the never ending argument regarding how wolves are managed in the state of Wisconsin. The tribe’s lawsuit actually has solutions that could work and it is all about the tribe’s partnership with their brother, the “wolf”! They have lived in partnership for centuries with grey wolves, and they understand that the wolf belongs on the land where he is needed; working in harmony with nature, and the creator.
The tribes were represented by the California-based environmental group Earthjustice. The Ojibwa’s case took an unusual turn due to a preliminary injunction filed before the tribes’ and all ready in place on the wolf season handed out Oct. 22 in a similar case by a Dane County judge.
With the season already effectively blocked, Judge Peterson said he wasn’t able to issue relief. But he heard arguments and testimony over 7 hours. I have no doubt that the tribe’s injunction would have been granted, but for another lawsuit, that was granted first and right before the tribe’s lawsuit.
Traditionally, the first week of December is when wolf hunters are allowed to use dogs to track and trail grey wolves. Wisconsin is the only state that allows wolf hunters to use dogs because of a law, 2011 Wisconsin Act 169, enacted during the Walker administration. However, a Dane County Circuit Court Judge issued a temporary injunction Friday halting the season, set to begin on November 6. It came to late for 218 of Wisconsin’s wild wolves killed in the February 2021 wolf hunt.
A statutory requirement leads to unintended consequences.
“I think when you force something well, you might get some unintended consequences and make people make decisions without really thinking things through, which I think I’ll argue throughout my life that that’s what happened in February of 2021, with this hastily arranged Wolf season, we had late in this time window. We had to hold a wolf season, and by rushing it through because we had to meet the statutory requirement, we ran into real severe problems that blackened the eyes of Wisconsin’s hunters.” People & Wolves Movie quote from cast member Patrick Durkin, an award-winning outdoor writer, newspaper columnist, and general outdoors reporter.
A Wisconsin wolf hunter proudly displays his trophy wolf taken in the February 2021 hunt from the Wisconsin Wolf Hunting Facebook page post 02/26/2021.
January and February are the prime breeding season for gray wolves. In her testimony, HSUS Wisconsin State Director Megan Nicholson addressed the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board, urging them to reject the DNR’s proposed quota of 200 wolves and set a quota of zero.
“Opening an immediate trophy hunting season is scientifically unsupportable,” she said. “Allowing wolf trophy hunting and trapping at any level has dire consequences like destroying pack structure and leaving yearling pups to starve, and experts warn that allowing hunting at the excessive level outlined in the state’s current Management Plan is indefensible and could put wolves into significant jeopardy.”Nicholson added that holding a season in February will magnify harms to stable wolf packs and urged the board to take more time “to make informed and transparent decisions based on sound science, meaningful tribal consultation, and with the input of diverse stakeholders.”
The hunt goes against the spiritual beliefs of the Ojibwa People of Wisconsin. Hunting their brother, especially during breeding seasons, causes a lot of controversy.
Women are the backbone and the ones who will keep the community together. So when the hunt took place, they were killing female Ma’iingan. Marvin DeFoe is a People & Wolves cast member, educator, teacher, birch bark canoe builder, and Red Cliff elder.
For centuries, the Ojibwe have lived alongside their brother Ma’iingan, who we know in English to be the wolf. February 2021 was a brutal assault, a hunt on their wolf relative, that stirred emotion and grief for Ma’iingan as they knew what happened to him would happen to them.
Watch People & Wolves Movie
The February 2021 wolf hunt began the fight on how the state should manage its wolves. It leads to a rift in the Natural Resources Board, where its integrity is questioned.
When I became a volunteer Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Winter wolf tracker in the year 2000, there were just 66 wolf packs. I was assigned a wolf tracking block in Douglas County, Wisconsin. The gray wolf population flourished while under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Thirty years after Wisconsin began its wolf recovery program, I witnessed it disappear altogether. Wolf recovery went from zero to sixty, resulting in three consecutive wolf hunts, mandated by the conservative controlled state legislature. And one that caused even more conroversy.
The most unfortunate aspect of this process was the loss of public education & input: the conservative party controlled wolf management. And, to top it off, anti-wolf fringe hunters also came to dominate politics. They pushed misinformation instead of science. They began campaigns full of political rhetoric designed to scare the public. The propaganda by anti-wolf politicians & fringe hunters were claiming wolves are killing all the deer, and the people in the northwoods don’t want them in their backyards. It never ends because propaganda keeps fueling the fires.
August 11, 2021, the Natural Resources Board (NRB) meeting the chair, Dr. Prehn (R), wants a wolf hunt so bad that he refused to relinquish his seat to Governor Ever’s (D) appointee, Sandy Naas, and it’s made headlines all over the world. It didn’t end there.
“In case you missed it, the Senate’s Committee on Financial Institutions and Sporting Heritage voted 3-2 Sept. 28 to reject four of Gov. Tony Evers’ five NRB nominees. If the full Senate rejects those nominees before the NRB’s Oct. 25 meeting, it would leave three Board members — Chairman Bill Smith, Vice chair Marcy West and Paul Buhr — and cancel the meeting for lack of a quorum.” From Patrick Durkin’s Latest Column Nails it on Senator’s Rejection of Gov Evers’ NRB Nominees, October 2023.
If all of this controversy makes you wonder if politics could get any worse, keep wondering. The Trump Administration’s comeback could put us back on the carousel and keep us locked into it all over again. No way out and no way off.
At least a California judge put wolves back on the list, and they are safe for now.
Following a February 10, 2022, court order, gray wolves in the contiguous 48 states and Mexico – with the exception of the Northern Rocky Mountain population – are now protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as threatened in Minnesota and endangered in the remaining states.
Trump picks North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department.
“We’re going to do things with energy and with land interior that is going to be incredible,” Trump said.
That does follow Trump’s quote, “Drill Baby Drill.”
He is a vocal supporter of Trump and hosted fundraising events for him while being shortlisted for the Republican vice presidential nomination. Restoring and expanding fossil fuel energy development should be a priority in the Interior in the coming Trump term. Former Interior official William Perry Pendley wrote in Project 2025, a blueprint for the new administration published by the Heritage Foundation. Source OPB By Kirk Siegler (NPR) and Jeongyoon Han (NPR) January 12, 2025
Trump’s previous Interior secretaries became embroiled in ethics scandals. Trump then elevated former oil industry lobbyist and Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to the top of the agency. Nine months after his appointment, the Government Accountability Office found Bernhardt had twice violated the law at Interior when he directed the National Park Service to use park entrance fees for maintenance to keep parks open during the 2019 government shutdown.
Oh boy, we are really in for it if history repeats itself. Trump’s pick to lead FWS is the same as his interior pick. It will be the same old, same old.
Aurelia Skipwith is known for her fight against endangered species protection and has strong ties with Monsanto. Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has links to powerful agricultural interests opposed to protections for endangered species she would oversee. Aurelia Skipwith formerly worked at the agrochemical giant Monsanto.
Sorry, everyone, but the bad news will outweigh the good. FWS denies the petition to delist, with only days for a new administration to take office and new appointees to head crucial agencies that determine the fate of Wisconsin’s wolves. Both have heavy ties to oil & gas and Monsanto.
It is essential to take action. Yes, the MAGA party is in the majority, but it is a slim majority. There is hope that the voices of reason can prevail with hard work. Call, write, and keep the pressure on your US representatives.
Republicans now have less of a majority in the state. There is hope. Keep writing those letters to the editor.
How to Write a Letter to the Editor link here: https://wolvesofdouglascountywisconsin.com/2016/09/05/how-to-write-a-letter-to-the-editor/comment-page-1/
…Wolves only need two things to survive. They need adequate prey, they need not to be persecuted by humans. Peter David, cast member, People & Wolves, a story of coexistence.
Check out Wisconsin’s new Wolf Management Plan link here: https://widnr.widen.net/s/khfb62phql/wolf-management-plan_final-version_1.4
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