As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund and someone who cares about protecting America's wildlife, I urge you to maintain Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies.

As you know, On March 6th, 2009, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the Bush Administration's discredited plan to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Greater Yellowstone states of Idaho and Montana -- a decision that could lead to the deaths of more than 1,000 wolves!

Eliminating Endangered Species Act protections for these wolves should be contingent upon two things that have not yet been achieved: 1) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs a delisting plan based on current science that guarantees a minimum wolf population level that is both sustainable and genetically connected. The delisting plan's goal of 300 to 450 wolves in the region is far too few to sustain a healthy wolf population. 2) All of the states in the delisting area must have wolf management regulations that provide for a sustainable and well connected wolf population.

Interior Secretary Salazar's decision fails to adequately address biological concerns that led a Federal court to overturn the same wolf delisting rule late last year when the Bush Administration issued it. The Secretary's decision also fails to address important concerns with Idaho's state wolf management plan and state regulations that undermine the goal of a sustainable wolf population by killing massive numbers of wolves.

Under current state wolf management plans, more than two-thirds of the region's wolves could be killed, threatening the overall future of wolves in the region. In fact, current state wolf management plans seem more directed at wolf eradication than sustainable management of a wildlife population that the federal government has spent millions of taxpayer dollars to rescue from extinction.

For all these reasons, I sincerely hope you will reconsider your administration's position on wolf management in the Northern Rockies.

Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to your reply.