"The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity today filed notice of intent to sue the Department of the Interior for failing to write a recovery plan for wolves in the lower 48 states.

In July the Center submitted a scientific petition to Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service asking that a national recovery plan be developed, but never received a response.

"Wolves are an integral part of this county's natural history and need a national recovery plan now," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center.

Once widespread throughout North America, gray wolves now number about 5,000 in the lower 48 states, inhabiting the northern Rockies and northern Great Lakes regions.

Greenwald says a national plan would provide a roadmap for recovering existing wolf populations and returning wolves to some of their historic range around the country. Suitable wolf habitat exists in the Pacific Northwest, California, Great Basin, southern Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and New England. "

Environment News Service had the story December 21, 2010. [2]