Did Gang Green sell out wolves in the northern Rockies?

Given that one Gang Green group, Defenders of Wildlife, has already sent out an e-mail mass blast with a "fact sheet," all while admitting the settlement between environmental groups and federal and state governments was "a tough decision," I'd say the answer is at least a possible yes.

I had thought about blogging about this when it popped up, but just didn't have time at the moment. That said, part of the settlement has different, state-based wolf protection standards in each of he three norther Rockies states, something for which a federal court recently blasted U.S. Fish and Wildlife. So, if not a total sellout, it was a fairly weak compromise.

The idea that Montana and Idaho can have different standards for a wolf pack than the U.S. government will have for the same pack in Yellowstone just doesn't fly. the idea that those two states won't look at previous court rulings and creep as close to the edge as they think hey can and get away with it won't surprise me.

That said, folks like Greater Yellowstone Coalition aren't technically part of "Gang Green. Certainly, Center for Biological Diversity isn't. So, whether I should see that as a silver lining, that the compromise can't be that bad, because groups like it signed off, or if instead, I should see it as a dark cloud that even group like those would sell out, I don't know.

Here's the actual settlement press release, with other information. From the fact that the 10 environmental groups involved agreed to a common press release clearly indicates to me they're worried about the "sellout" implications, and, at the same time, from the language, they're clearly worried about the current GOP Congress. Well, most the Gang Green type groups, butter their bread straight-up Democrat, therefore, it's no surprise to NOT hear them express worry about the Obama Interior Department. In turn, that further highlights the sellout issue in the first place.

(Update: CBD has its own post-settlement news release here.)

But, it will be Obama's Interior, headed by wolf-disliking rancher Ken Salazar, that approves Montana and Idaho management plans.

Update, April 1: No, no April Fools' Day joke, just sick Congresscritters who are pushing ahead with bills to gut the Endangered Species act. My take on that, and Gang Green and non-Gang Green enviros' naivete or worse, here.