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Appeals judge says agriculture groups can participate in wolf lawsuit

An appeals court decision will allow an agriculture coalition to present its case for removing wolves from the Endangered Species List. 

Travis Cushman with the American Farm Bureau Federation says a 9^th Circuit Appeals Court decision allows the coalition to appeal another decision by the same lower court. “The lower court made a couple of rulings that we really disagreed with, one of which was the one that was just overturned which prohibited us from being part of the case, but now this next phase will be whether or not wolves should have been delisted.”

Cushman says it will still take time to get a final decision on wolves, but this appeals court decision sets a precedent for other cases. “The Ninth Circuit has said that agricultural resource users like ourselves, we have a stake in these kinds of fights and we should be allowed at the table, not just in this one proceeding but allowing all agricultural folks to be able to be at the table and be able to participate in these kinds of cases.”

The agriculture groups in the coalition working to again de-list the gray wolf include the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Sheep Industry Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the Public Lands Council.  They can now participate in the lawsuit brought by the Defenders of Wildlife against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.