Our View: Obama should give authority to states

The wolf - a controversial political animal for years - now becomes a problem for the new Obama administration.

The outgoing Bush administration left this issue at the doorstep Wednesday, announcing a new plan to remove the wolf from the federal endangered species list and turn over management decisions to Idaho and other states.

National environmental groups will surely lobby the new White House to reverse course, no doubt predicting a death sentence for the wolf. The White House also will hear from the likes of Democratic U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, who joined Idaho's congressional Republicans in a press release praising Wednesday's "delisting" decision. "I am confident that Idaho ranchers, sportsmen, scientists and leaders will successfully manage the health of wolves and other wildlife populations for years to come."

So are we. Idaho has earned any benefit of the doubt and a chance to prove itself. And that's exactly what the state should get from the new administration.

Wednesday's announcement was no 11th-hour move from a lame-duck administration. It was, instead, years in the making.

Since the mid-1990s, when about 30 wolves were released in Central Idaho, the Idaho wolf population has exploded to about 800 - so it is long past plausible to argue that the hardy predator warrants the restrictive protection of the federal Endangered Species Act.

As this population has blossomed, Idaho has worked to craft a plan to allow wolf hunting, seek a balance between wolf and big-game populations and protect the interests of livestock owners. The plan has received the blessing of a federal judge - unlike neighboring Wyoming, which was conspicuously omitted from the Bush administration's delisting plan.

The wolf has far exceeded the recovery goals set a decade ago. Idaho has met its expectations. The only question is whether the federal government will make good on its end of the bargain.

With Interior secretary nominee U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar - a former Colorado attorney general with a ranching background - Obama has signaled a centrist and states' rights approach to public lands issues. The administration has a chance to put those principles into practice.