SALEM — The West’s tug-of-war over wolves went via Zoom to a federal judge in Oakland on Friday, Nov. 12, as environmental groups asked U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White to restore federal protection to wolves along the West Coast, and in the central Rockies and Great Lakes states.

Attorney Kristen Boyles said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was abandoning gray wolves outside the Northern Rockies.

Justice Department attorney Michael Eitel said state boundaries shouldn’t dictate how the agency carries out the Endangered Species Act.

“This is not a case where Fish and Wildlife is trying to skirt its obligations under the ESA,” he said.

The lawsuits before White challenge the Trump administration’s decision to take gray wolves throughout the Lower 48 off the federal list of endangered species.

Wolves in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the eastern one-third of Oregon and Washington were already de-listed and are not addressed in the suits.

The Biden administration has defended the Trump rule, arguing that gray wolves aren’t threatened in the U.S. because wolves are established in the Northern Rockies, as well as the western Great Lakes.

Ironically, however, the Biden administration is also reviewing the ESA status of wolves in the Northern Rockies because of wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana.

Meanwhile, lawsuits led by Defenders of Wildlife, WildEarth Guardians and the Natural Resources Defense Council seek to immediately repeal the Trump rule. The three suits were merged into one hearing Friday.

Earlier in the week, White notified lawyers that he didn’t want to hear written arguments rehashed. He posed several questions about whether the USFWS correctly applied the ESA.

Wolf advocates argue USFWS gave too little consideration to wolves in Pacific Coast states and the central Rocky Mountain states of Utah and Colorado.

USFWS said wolves in those regions are not distinct populations and therefore not eligible for ESA protection.

Utah has had nine confirmed wolves, but it anticipates more and intervened in the lawsuit, arguing the state and not the federal government should manage wolves.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2020 counted 30 wolves in the newly delisted area. If the Trump rule stays in place, Fish and Wildlife could resort to killing wolves to stop attacks on livestock. Under the ESA, lethal control is not an option.

The hearing lasted one hour. White said he will make a written ruling.