Up North Progressive

On October 29, 2020, insurrection provocateur Donald Trump ordered the gray wolf delisted from the Endangered Species Act. The Department of the Interior announced the gray wolf successfully recovered and it was time to allow states and tribes to manage wolf populations again.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which struggled to protect wolves living in the Upper Peninsula from poachers, is accepting applications for the Wolf Management Advisory Council to oversee the wolf population once again now they lost their status as an endangered species on January 4, 2021. Public Act 290 of 2008 and Public Act 318 of 2008 allow residents of the state to shoot wolves that physically threaten livestock or pets.

Once delisted from the ESA, wolves are a managed game species in Michigan. Michigan attempted a hunting season in 2013, but poachers killed more wolves than licensed hunters. For now, Michigan will not allow hunting of wolves. Michigan residents who shoot wolves not threatening pets or livestock will be prosecuted for poaching.

The current wolf population in Michigan is 695. Michigan’s Wolf Management Plan will be updated. Public comment to revise the plan will happen in the future.

Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Oregon Wild, and the Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit in US District Court on January 14, 2021, challenging the US Fish and Wildlife Service move to delist the gray wolf. Successful lawsuits in the past put gray wolves back on the ESA list.

Do you want to serve on the Wolf Management Advisory Council? You have until February 4, 2021, to apply. Request applications by emailing DNR-Wildlife@Michigan.gov or calling the DNR at 517-284-9453.