Action timeline

January 4, 1974 – The gray wolf was listed as endangered in the lower 48 states and Mexico.

March 9, 1978 – The Service issued a final rule reclassifying the gray wolf as endangered in Minnesota and threatened across the rest of the lower 48 states.

April 1, 2003 – The Service issued a final rule designating three large “distinct population segments” and downlisting wolves to threatened status in the Great Lakes region.

January 31, 2005 – In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center and allies, a federal judge in Oregon overturned the Service’s 2003 downlisting of the wolves.

August 9, 2006 – A federal judge in D.C. issued an order invalidating permits issued by the Service to Michigan and Wisconsin for use of lethal measures to control wolf depredations.

February 8, 2007 – The Service issued a final rule delisting wolves in the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment.

September 29, 2008 – In response to a lawsuit in which the Center participated, a federal judge in D.C. ordered the Service to place the wolves back under Endangered Species Act protection.

April 2, 2009 – The Service again issued a final rule delisting wolves in the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment.

July 1, 2009 – The Center and our allies entered into a court-approved settlement agreement with the Service that reinstated protections for wolves in the Great Lakes region.

May 20, 2010 – The Center and our allies issued comments on applications by state agencies in Michigan and Wisconsin to kill depredating wolves in Michigan and Wisconsin.

July 20, 2010 – The Center petitioned the Obama administration for a national recovery plan to establish wolf populations in suitable habitat in the Pacific Northwest, California, Great Basin, southern Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and New England.

September 14, 2010 – The Service issued a finding that petitions to delist wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and the Great Lakes states “may be warranted.”

October 26, 2010 – The Center filed comments urging the Service to retain protections for wolves in the Great Lakes states.

December 21, 2010 – With no response to our July 20 petition, we filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a national recovery plan for gray wolves.

March 9, 2011 – The Center and 47 other conservation organizations, representing millions of Americans, called on Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) to use her power as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to put a stop to legislation removing Endangered Species Act protection for gray wolves.

May 4, 2011 – The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a rule proposing to remove Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves in the Great Lakes region.

December 21, 2011 – The Service issued a rule prematurely removing Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves in the Great Lakes region.

September 18, 2012 – The Center and Howling for Wolves filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources challenging the agency’s failure to provide a formal opportunity for public comment on recently approved rules establishing wolf hunting and trapping. The conservation groups were seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the opening of hunting and trapping seasons that fall.

October 10, 2012 – The Minnesota Court of Appeals denied our September motion for a preliminary injunction.

October 15, 2012 – The Center and Howling for Wolves asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to stop fall wolf hunting and trapping. The groups sought review of a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision, issued the previous week.