Declaring wolves recovered in Idaho and Montana but still endangered in Wyoming did not pass legal muster, Molloy decided. Nothing in the language of the Endangered Species Act or in its legislative history allowed for such a maneuver, despite Fish and Wildlife’s creative effort to reinterpret the code. “Even if the Service’s solution is pragmatic, or even practical,” the judge wrote, “it is at its heart a political solution that does not comply with the ESA.” Doug Honnold had won.
“Declaring wolves recovered in Idaho and Montana but still endangered in Wyoming did not pass legal muster, Molloy decided. Nothing in the language of the Endangered Species Act or in its legislative history allowed for such a maneuver, despite Fish and Wildlife’s creative effort to reinterpret the code. “Even if the Service’s solution is pragmatic, or even practical,” the judge wrote, “it is at its heart a political solution that does not comply with the ESA.” Doug Honnold had won.”
