Setback for wolf recovery.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The gray wolf may well be an American conservation success story, but it's still a success story in the making. The federal government's premature decision to drop protections for wolves in northern Rocky Mountain states needlessly puts at risk prospects for this magnificent animal's revival in Oregon.

After a highly controversial, two-decade effort to re-establish gray wolf populations in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, federal wildlife officials recently announced that the wolves will be taken off the federal endangered species list. That means they'll soon be fair game for hunters in those states, even though wolf populations are less than half what scientists say are needed to ensure long-term sustainability.

The federal delisting applies to the eastern third of Oregon, but the state's Endangered Species Act will still protect the few wolves living in that region. Both the federal and state protections remain intact - for the time being, at least - in the western two-thirds of the state.

After years of negotiations, an unlikely coalition of scientists, economists, conservationists, ranchers and hunters recently crafted a wolf management plan for Oregon. The plan calls for gradual reintroduction of wolves, with a goal of four breeding pairs in both the western and eastern parts of the state.

There have been only a few confirmed sightings in Oregon in recent years - enough to overcome doubts that Idaho wolves would swim the Snake River to cross into this state, but not enough to establish the significant presence required for legitimate biological recovery.

The delisting of wolves in Idaho is a setback for Oregon's recovery efforts. That's because hunting could reduce wolf populations in Idaho - and reduce the odds that wolves will move west into Oregon.

Idaho has an estimated population of 730 wolves, and state officials have submitted a plan that calls for maintaining a delisted population of between 500 and 700 wolves. But that may be optimistic in a state where the Republican governor, C.L. "Butch" Otter, has vowed to cull 80 percent of the wolves through hunting and other means - and to be first in line "to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself."

That's ignorance of the first order - and ample justification for the lawsuits that environmental organizations are preparing to file against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service challenging the delisting.

Gray wolves once were bountiful throughout the West, but most were killed off by the 1930s. Approval of the Endangered Species Act three decades ago and public education efforts by wildlife groups changed people's attitudes and increased people's understanding and appreciation for these remarkable animals.

Since the mid-1990s, when officials seeded central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park with 66 wolves, the population has grown to more than 1,500. As their numbers have increased, studies have shown the balancing effects they have on the ecosystem. Among other things, wolves suppress other predators such as coyotes and cougars. They strengthen deer and elk herds by thinning out the sick and dying - and their presence actually changes the behavior of other animals.

By caving to ranching and hunting interests, the Bush administration has dealt a setback to recovery efforts in the Rocky Mountains - and a potentially fatal blow to Oregon's fledgling program.