Second Suit In 2 Days Targets Wolf Program. By Rene Romo. ABQJournal Southern Bureau
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
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Actually, neither of these lawsuits is against the 10(j) nonessential, experimental rule governing the reintroduction (although there are certainly problems with it, some of which will hopefully be addressed in a proposed new rule now in the midst of a NEPA process). Rather, the suits address, among other issues, SOP 13.0, on removal of Mexican wolves, a purely discretionary policy promulgated by the Adaptive Management Oversight Committee, a creation of a 2003 memorandum of understanding among five agencies and the White Mountain Apache tribe.
The suit brought by Defenders et al., the one filed yesterday, specifically challenges the abdication by the USFWS of authority over program management to this committee.