Bergman Presses New FWS Director to Delist Gray Wolves

Rep. Jack Bergman and a coalition of House Members are calling on newly confirmed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Brian Nesvik to immediately delist the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and return management authority to states and tribes.

In a letter sent to Director Nesvik, Rep. Bergman and 24 of his colleagues congratulated him on his confirmation and urged the FWS to rely on science - not politics - in determining the gray wolf's status. The Members underscored that wolf populations across the country have long surpassed recovery goals and that continued federal protections ignore both the law and on-the-ground realities in rural communities.

"Gray wolves have recovered far beyond the levels that originally warranted their listing," said Rep. Bergman. "The science is clear - these populations are stable, self-sustaining, and thriving. It's time to return management to the people who live with these animals every day, not judges or bureaucrats in Washington."

The Members' letter notes that recent federal court rulings have imposed new standards for delisting - requiring a species to repopulate its entire historic range - that are not found anywhere in the ESA. The lawmakers warn that this judicial overreach undermines the law's intent and diverts critical conservation resources away from species truly at risk.

The letter urges FWS to reissue its 2020 rule delisting the gray wolf and to stand behind state and tribal wildlife management programs, which have proven capable of maintaining healthy wolf populations while reducing human-wildlife conflict.

Read the full letter here or below:

We write to congratulate you on your confirmation as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Your leadership comes at a pivotal time for wildlife management across the country, and we trust you will work to ensure that agency decisions are both grounded in sound science and responsive to the needs of local communities. One of the most pressing issues in this regard is the need to delist the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and return primary management authority to states and tribes.

Few species illustrate the legal and policy challenges associated with repeated listing and delisting under the ESA more clearly than the gray wolf. First listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Preservation Act (ESPA), the predecessor to the ESA, the gray wolf has experienced a remarkable recovery over the past half-century thanks to sustained conservation efforts by states, tribes, conservation groups, private landowners, and federal partners. Despite this, the gray wolf's status and regulation under the ESA continue to be the subjects of conflicting FWS rules and federal court decisions.

On November 3, 2020, FWS published the final rule, "Removing the Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus) From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife." Concluding that the best available scientific data demonstrated that gray wolf populations in the lower forty-eight states no longer met the definition of threatened or endangered under the ESA, the rule removed federal protections for these populations. This decision rightly returned management authority to individual states and tribes, allowing those closest to the issue - and most familiar with the unique challenges of living alongside these predators - to develop management strategies that balance conservation goals with the needs of local communities.

However, on February 10, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the November 2020 rule and ordered the reinstatement of federal ESA protections, arguing that FWS failed to adequately address the gray wolf's absence from parts of its historic range. Following this court order, FWS issued the final rule, "Reinstatement of Endangered Species Act Protections for the Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus) in Compliance With Court Order," restoring federal protections across most of the country. Soon thereafter, additional petitions were filed which sought new or expanded listings for wolf populations not covered by the February 2022 court order. Responding to these petitions in February 2024, FWS concluded that the populations in question did not warrant ESA listing. Nevertheless, on August 5, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Missoula Division vacated and remanded key portions of FWS's February 2024 finding, again asserting that the agency failed to consider the gray wolf's absence from its historic range.

Through the February 2022 and August 2025 rulings, the courts have effectively imposed a new requirement for delisting that the ESA does not contain - and that FWS has repeatedly rejected: that a species must repopulate its entire historic range before it may be delisted under the ESA. As FWS explained in its November 2020 delisting rule and again as recently as September 2024 - when the U.S. Department of Justice filed an appeal on behalf of FWS to restore the agency's November 2020 rule - the ESA does not require that a species inhabit its entire historic range to be considered recovered and eligible for delisting. Rather, the ESA requires a finding of whether a species is "in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range." FWS has consistently interpreted that language to mean the species must be secure and self-sustaining in the areas that it inhabits today - and that recovery can be, and often is, achieved without full historical recolonization.

Allowing courts to substitute their own policy preferences for this longstanding, science-based interpretation undermines the ESA and risks diverting limited conservation resources away from species truly at risk of extinction. Gray wolves have exceeded every recovery goal that prompted their original listing under the ESPA and ESA, and state and tribal management programs - including regulated hunting seasons - in regions with currently delisted populations have demonstrated their ability to maintain a healthy and sustainable number of gray wolves.

Grounded both in scientific data and the law enacted by Congress, the gray wolf no longer meets the definition of threatened or endangered under the ESA, and primary management authority must be returned to individual states and tribes. Congress never intended the ESA to be an open-ended mandate for perpetual federal control over species based on where they lived centuries ago. Rather, the ESA is intended to bring species back to the point where such federal management is no longer necessary - a goal that, thanks to the collaborative work among states, tribes, conservation groups, private landowners, and federal partners, has been achieved for the gray wolf.

As such, we urge FWS to reissue the rule delisting the gray wolf under the ESA, and to stand firmly behind the authority of states and tribes to manage recovered species, including through regulated hunting and other proven tools that help reduce human-wildlife conflict while sustaining healthy populations. We once again congratulate you on your confirmation as Director of FWS, and we look forward to working with you to ensure wildlife management efforts at the agency are grounded in science, faithful to congressional intent, and responsive to the unique needs of communities across the country.