For the first time in history, Congress removed an endangered species from the Endangered Species List. That species was the Northern Rockies gray wolf.

Ignoring scientific facts, anti-wildlife politicians in Congress voted to serve special interests, who make unfounded claims that the iconic wolf was "bad for business." Since then, public wolf hunts have ensued in Idaho and Montana, killing countless wolves.

Now that Congress has removed federal protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho, the Department of the Interior has proposed a disastrous plan that will allow hunting of wolves in the state of Wyoming. Under this plan, Wyoming could reduce the wolf population to just 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs outside of Yellowstone National Park. In a small area around the park, licenses would be required to hunt wolves. In the other 90 percent of the state, wolves could be killed by any method, without a license. No other state, even those where wolves have been removed form the Endangered Species Act by Congress, allows unregulated wolf hunting.

Congress decision to delist wolves and what is being proposed in Wyoming, doesn't just harm wolf populations. It jeopardizes every imperiled species in our nation, by undercutting the Endangered Species Act and setting a dangerous precedent, where politics, not science, determines whether or not a species is protected.

Wolves are an important part of the ecosystem and one of the greatest natural predators of the Yellowstone region. Because the presence of wolves keeps elk on the move, key habitats have recovered because they are no longer overgrazed and aspens, willows, beavers and songbirds are coming back to the area. And wolf viewing by tourists has a total economic impact of about $70 million for the Greater Yellowstone region. The gray wolf is a vital part of America's wilderness and natural heritage. And it needs our help.

Contact Secretary Ken Salazar, the head of the U.S. Department of the Interior, asking him to revise their terrible proposal to let Wyoming shoot wolves on sight.

For further information, contact www.sierraclub.org.

Patricia Marks