Defenders of Wildlife v. Salazar

In 1974, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (the service) (defendant) listed the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (the act). The northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf’s range covered all of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. The population of gray wolves in this region was considered a distinct-population segment under the act. The northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population achieved its recovery goal for eight consecutive years leading up to 2008. In 2008, the service issued a final rule delisting the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf throughout its range. After a legal challenge to the final rule, the delisting rule was vacated and remanded to the service. In 2009, the service again issued a final rule to remove federal protections for the gray wolf under the act. However, this time the service sought to delist the gray wolf in Idaho and Montana but not Wyoming. The service found that the gray wolf remained in danger of extinction in the Wyoming portion of its range, which was a significant portion of its range, because of inadequate regulatory mechanisms. The 2009 final rule removed protections for the distinct-population segment of gray wolves except for in Wyoming. This removal of protection would have allowed wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho. The Defenders of Wildlife (plaintiff) sued the service to reinstate protections for the entire gray wolf distinct-population segment.