To: Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and President Donald Trump
Wolves in the Lower-48 States Need Your Help
I am writing to urge you to maintain federal Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states.
Wolves are a keystone species--their presence is critical to maintaining the structure and integrity of their native ecosystems. A delisting across the lower 48 states would be premature and disastrous for gray wolf recovery in the United States.
Why is this important?
URGENT UPDATE: Earthjustice attorneys have heard that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might put out its proposed national wolf delisting rule within days. We need you to act now!
Any day now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may remove federal Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves across nearly the entire lower 48 states. This would be a disastrous setback for gray wolf recovery in the United States.
The recovery of gray wolves is an American success story, from their reintroduction in the northern Rocky Mountains to their comeback in the western Great Lakes states. But there are few, if any, gray wolves in the vast majority of their former range. If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removes gray wolf federal protections, wolves in the Pacific Northwest, California, the southern Rocky Mountains, and the Northeast will face even more difficult odds than they do already.
It is critical that the administration not proceed with a blanket national delisting of the gray wolf, when wolves are still missing across so much of the U.S. landscape.
Urge President Obama and Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell to maintain protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states.