U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced Friday that a revised rule governing wolf conflicts in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana is now in effect.

The “10(j) rule” stays in effect until the Rocky Mountain gray wolf loses Endangered Species Act protection; it gives the states increased authority to kill wolves for harming wild elk herds and allows individuals on private or public land to kill a wolf if the animal is attacking their livestock or dogs, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release.

Environmental groups have called the modified rule a “de facto delisting.”
The rule was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 27. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced the delisting of the gray wolf Feb. 21.

Barring an injunction, the delisting goes into effect in late March. A number of conservation groups have joined in a lawsuit that would prevent the federal government from removing wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. Environmentalists say the Idaho and Wyoming wolf-management plans would allow wildlife managers to kill too many wolves.

Under the final 10(j) rule, state wildlife managers would normally need to send a proposal to Fish and Wildlife each time they want to kill wolves for harming elk herds. The proposal would then be reviewed by five independent scientific experts and sent out for public comment.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming officials say Wyoming wildlife managers will try to enact a management protocol that would allow the states to specify a number of conditions that, when met, would allow the state to kill wolves for harassing elk without scientists’ review or public comments in each case.

A copy of the revision can be viewed at www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/wolf/.