Published 7:45 pm Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Farm groups still hope to have their say Nov. 12 as U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, Calif., hears environmental organizations argue to restore federal protection to wolves across the West.
An agricultural coalition headed by the American Farm Bureau this week asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule White, who denied the farm groups a chance to participate in the hearing.
White ruled that two hunting groups, the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International, will adequately represent the interests of farmers and ranchers.
In a brief filed Sept. 13, the Farm Bureau, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Sheep Industry Association and the Public Lands Council said they want to protect livestock, not hunt wolves.
“It is the only group representing businesses and landowners whose interests may be affected by these suits,” the groups stated.
The agricultural coalition requested the appeals court to rule by Oct. 10.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took wolves throughout the Lower 48 off the federally protected list in the final month of the Trump administration. Wolves were already delisted in some places, including Idaho and the eastern one-third of Oregon and Washington.
Environmental groups filed three separate lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, claiming USFWS prematurely delisted the wolves everywhere.
The Biden administration, disappointing wolf advocates, has moved to dismiss the lawsuits. Meanwhile, environmental groups have moved for summary judgment. White will preside over the November hearing on all three lawsuits.
Farm groups last spring moved to intervene. That would allow them to participate in the hearing and any appeals. White acknowledged that farmers and ranchers have different concerns than hunters, but they shared the goal of having states manage wolves.
White also said he was concerned that allowing farm groups to participate could complicate and delay an already “somewhat unwieldy situation” involving three related lawsuits.
White allowed the state of Utah to intervene on the side of delisting wolves. Lone wolves have been seen in Utah and Colorado.
There are approximately 2,400 wolves in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Montana and Wyoming, according to USFWS, and 4,200 wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
The U.S. wolves are related to 30,000 wolves in Canada and are not in danger of extinction, according to USFWS.
