Interior Sued for Refusing to Develop Gray Wolf Recovery Plan

The Interior Department is unlawfully withholding a recovery plan for the endangered gray wolf, a conservation group alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The agency erroneously issued a finding this year that the species doesn’t require national conservation and instead deferred to “outdated and piecemeal recovery plans,” the Center for Biological Diversity said in the complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

Current recovery efforts focus on just three regions and total population numbers remain below the 10,000 wolf threshold scientists previously concluded was needed to avoid long-term extinction, the group said.

The finding, issued ...