Wolf delisting court battle 2.0

Right now, the NRDC Montana staff (Janet, Matt, and me) is driving back to Livingston from Missoula, after the federal court hearing on our wolf injunction wrapped up in front of Judge Molloy today. Matt's driving, so Janet is trying not to look out the window, even though it is a glorious late summer Montana day, a great day to be driving along the stunning Clarks Fork River.

The morning started early for Matt and Janet who left Bozeman at 5:30 am. (I had driven over the day before with the EarthJustice team).

We were greeted at the courthouse at 8 am by a small antiwolf rally with signs that read:

"nuke Canadian wolves"

"wolves are wildlife terrorists"

"the only way to manage wolves is to get rid of them."

 

A bunch were wearing blue t-shirts saying "save our elk." They were occupied with taking pictures of each other and hardly noticed when I took theirs.

The courthouse was packed seemingly beyond capacity, so people were allowed to sit in the lobby outside and watched the proceedings on screen.

Not surprisingly, Doug did not get much sleep last night, the weight of the wolves again on his shoulders. I think he was focused on the consequences of losing: hundreds of wolves being killed in a hunt that starts tomorrow in idaho. But he and the Earthjustice crew (Jenny Harbine, Tim Preso, and Sean Helle) were super-prepared, and outwardly calm. And, in the course of the morning, the Earthjustice team (represented by Doug who did the argument) demonstrated passion and conviction.

Jenny is 8 months pregnant too. Right before the hearing began, she left counsel table and leaned back toward Matt and me, saying "Matt, if something happens, would you be my designated driver?" This hearing and the high stakes it represents was just the kind of stress to induce labor.

The 3 hours went fast. One hour of argument by Doug, one hour by the federal government's attorney, and half an hour by each from the states of Montana and Idaho. Judge Molloy, an imposing figure with bushy eyebrows and a penetrating gaze, asked a lot of tough questions to all sides. About the merits of the case, what constitutes irreparable harm, and the rationale for the federal government flip flopping (again) in its decision to break up the population by delisting wolves in Montana and Idaho while maintaining wolves in Wyoming on the endangered species list.

Again, genetic connectivity between the three subpopulations in the northern Rockies was a central issue---an issue NRDC (and especially geneticist Sylvia Fallon) has long focused on. Doug read out loud an interesting concession that the hunt could adversely affect the prospects of wolves moving between subpopulations, by Montana wolf coordinator Carolyn Sime. In an email that was part of the administrative record, Carolyn said "if we were truly promoting (wolf dispersal), seasons would close by November, and they don't anywhere in the 3 states... And there are more things that we could have done to promote connectivity relative to public harvest and we did not. Lipstick on a pig -- well it is still a pig."

After all the effort and money we have put into the wolf recovery effort, we can and must do better than produce a pig of a delisting plan.

At the end of the 3 hours, Judge Molloy said he would rule soon. So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

(Earthjustice and "wolf loving" client groups including NRDC and Sierra Club)

Outside the courtroom, the crowd was buzzing. I heard one of the anti-wolf guys saying to a radio reporter on tape: "if the judge rules against the hunt, there will be a civil war."

This is why laws matter in the climate of thinly veiled violence that permeates the wolf debate.

Let us hope that the ruling is favorable and comes soon.

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