Removing the Gray Wolf from the Endangered Species Act

Been hearing this discussed in several venues as well as discussions on the Grizzly and Bald Eagle. The wolf looks like it may actually have partial removal from protections in the mid-west.

Farmers and ranchers in northwestern Minnesota would have broader leeway to shoot and trap nuisance wolves under a new proposal made Thursday by the Bush Administration. U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton set in motion a federal plan to hand management of gray wolves in the western Great Lakes states back to tribal and state resource agencies. Norton proposed removing gray wolves from the endangered species list, saying they have recovered to the point that federal protection is no longer needed.

The proposal covers Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, where roughly 3,800 wolves live. It also would remove federal wolf protection in neighboring parts of the Dakotas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, where rogue wolves might wander but where federal authorities say they are unlikely to establish populations.

Under the federal proposal, state and tribal governments would take responsibility for ensuring that populations of gray wolves, also called timber wolves, remain healthy. All three states have drawn up wolf management plans that have won approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

3800 still sounds like a pretty small population to me. But then, I don't have the best of understanding of what kind of population the available land could sustain. Sounds like they are attempting to set a reasonable management program, so you can be certain that this will get tied up in knots in the courts real quick.