Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Friday that he has upheld the decision
made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove gray wolves from the federal endangered list in the
Northern Rockies and the western Great Lakes regions.

From the story:

Salazar said wolves would remain a protected species in Wyoming
because its law and management plans were not strong enough. But
management of the predator will be turned over to state agencies in
Montana and Idaho and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah, in addition
to the Great Lakes states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The
Obama administration had ordered a review of the removal decision
announced in January, shortly before the Bush administration departed.
Salazar said he had concluded that dropping the wolf from the list was
justified by its strong comeback in the two regions, which together
have a population of nearly 5,600 wolves.

“The
recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its
historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered
Species Act,” he said in a conference call from Washington, D.C.

Wolves in the other parts of the lower 48 states, including the Southwest, remain on the endangered list.

This will likely be challenged further in courts, but it is a positive step for those hoping for wolf hunting or calling seasons. Idaho and Montana already have already had plans in place for public hunts and those will likely move forward pending more legal battles.