By 1967 the timber wolf subspecies Canis lupus lycaon, was listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (32 Federal Register 4001). After the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) was passed, the Secretary of the Interior also listed the northern rocky Mountain subspecies, C 1. Irremotus, and the Texas subspecies, C. 1. Monstrabilis, as endangered. In 1978 the Secretary designated the Minnesota population of wolves as threatened and all other North American gray wolf populations south of Canada as endangered.

In 1975, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) assigned the Northern Rocky Mountain Recovery Team to develop an idea to provide for regional recovery and delisting of the gray wolf. Three areas had habitat characteristics appropriate to support wolf populations; northwestern Montana, central Idaho, and Yellowstone National Park were these areas. The North

The Interior Appropriations Conference Committee set aside $200,000 for the National Park Service (NPS) and FWS to study the wolves. They studied whether the wolves could be controlled within or outside of Yellowstone, how the wolf would affect the grizzly bears in Yellowstone, how the wolf would affect the prey base and big game hunting in the Yellowstone region, and the definition of wolf management zone boundaries. Since 1989 the Interior Appropriations Acts have given out amounts ranging from nothing to $498,000 for the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone and central Idaho. Most of the money came with strings attached. Congress limited the National Park Service on the money used to study the wolf without an official environmental impact statement.

ern Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Plan, was approved in 1987. It recommended that each of the recovery areas must me able to maintain a least 10 breeding pairs of wolves for three straight years in order for FWS to think about delisting wolves in these regions. These wolves would produce approximately 300 wolves. The plan also advocated natural recovery. Natural recovery is when the wolf immigrate from Canada. The immigration would happen in Montana and Idaho while reintroduction would be used in Yellowstone.

In 1990 Congress appointed a wolf Management Committee, comprised of three federal, three state, and four interest group representatives, to come up with a plan for restoring the wolf to Yellowstone and central Idaho. In 1991 Congress asked the NPS, FWS, and the U.S. Forest Service to devise a plan of alternatives on the wolf restoration in Yellowstone and central Idaho. The states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, Animal Damage Control, and the Wind River and Nez Perce Tribes participated in the procedure.

Some topics in this essay:
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