The wolf is back on the endangered species list.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction late Friday that will put wolves in the Northern Rockies back under federal government management. That decision also means Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will have no wolf hunting seasons this fall.

Molloy said the Natural Resources Defense Council and 11 other wolf advocacy groups demonstrated they would likely win the case on the merits of their arguments, Molloy said in his opinion.

The group filed a request for an injunction against delisting in April in hopes of stopping the hunts and allowing the wolf population to continue expanding. It also argued that state management plans are inadequate to ensure the long-term conservation of wolves.

The news left Defenders of Wildlife spokeswoman Suzanne Stone in Boise elated and emotional. After learning of the decision in a phone call from The Associated Press, she let out a scream and tried not to cry.

"This will enable the wolf population to remain stable and not be eradicated during the time that this lawsuit is reviewed, and that's the most important thing that we were hoping for," she said.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, who said he planned to bid on the first wolf-hunt tag, is disappointed with the decision, his spokesperson said.

Molloy made his decision based on the wolf advocates' claim that wolves in Yellowstone National Park were not genetically mixing with other wolf populations, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said was necessary. He also criticized the Wyoming plan, which had 90 percent of the state open for wolf killing year-round.

But Molloy said the Montana and Idaho wolf plans were good enough to protect wolves, at least as well as the federal rules in place when the wolves were delisted.

"Idaho law is sufficiently similar to the (federal) regulations to provide assurance that Idaho's depredation control law will not likely threaten the continued existence of the wolf in Idaho," Molloy wrote.

Still, the decision means that Idaho won't have a hunting season this fall.

"It's unfortunate," said Steve Nadeau, the large carnivore manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. "We certainly don't agree with the judge."

The NRDC said 106 wolves have been killed in the 118 days since wolves were removed from the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act. More than 2,000 wolves are estimated to live in an area that includes Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and small parts of Oregon, Washington and Utah.

"The federal court just offered a badly needed lifeline to wolves in the Northern Rockies," said Louisa Willcox, NRDC Action Fund Wildlife Campaign director.

Idaho estimated it would have a spring population of 1,063 and authorized a hunting season that would have allowed the killing of up to 428 wolves.

But Molloy noted that the state plan had limits in place that would stop the statewide season once the overall mortality limit had been met.

Nadeau was pleased that Idaho's plan passed the judge's muster.

"All of our hard work to meet the high bar for delisting was fruitful," he said.

Rocky Barker: 377-6484