With another swipe of his pen last month, President Trump signed an executive order giving the Department of the Interior 90 days to determine whether gray wolves have met recovery goals as outlined in the Endangered Species Act. The EO also states that if findings indicate recovery, the process to delist or downlist the species is to begin immediately.
That potential shift has put a spotlight on legislation in Michigan that is already making its way through the House. Back in May, U.P. Rep. Dave Prestin tabled House Bill 6008, which would require the DNR to establish a gray wolf hunting and trapping season within a 90-day window following a decision to federally delist wild canines. And while the bill, which is currently with the House Natural Resources and Tourism Committee, does not set quotas or season dates, it would serve to remove the state’s ability to wait or decline to act the moment that federal protections are lifted.
Currently speaking, Michigan’s 2026 winter track survey has pegged the U.P. wolf population at a minimum of 792 wolves, a number the DNR says has been stable and well above recovery goals for more than 20 years now. With healthy populations roaming the northern regions of the state, lawmakers in support of delisting are arguing that wolves are now affecting deer and moose populations along with the usual livestock and pet conflicts.
"Upper Peninsula families and sportsmen have watched wolf numbers explode while our deer and moose populations take a severe beating," Prestin said in a release. "This will help restore balance to our forests, protect our big game populations, keep our deer camps full, support local economies that rely on hunting and reduce livestock losses and pet attacks that are becoming far too common.”
As for other Great Lake states with burgeoning wolf populations, Wisconsin has already done a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to potential future management. Passed back in 2012, state law already requires a hunting and trapping season whenever wolves are not under federal protection, and has updated harvest rules (zone-specific tags, faster reporting, den protections) in anticipation of possible delisting.
Things in neighboring Minnesota remain a bit more complex. While the state has seen a variety of competing bills over the past year-or-so that would either require or prohibit a season after delisting, none have advanced, and the state is known to take a more cautious approach historically.
Outside of getting hunting seasons on the books for wolves, Michigan has recently submitted bills aimed at ending the open fields doctrine for Michigan DNR conservation officers after House Bill 6128 was approved by the Michigan House Judiciary Committee in late September.
For now, all of this remains blocked at the federal level. The next concrete federal dates are tomorrow’s oral arguments in the Ninth Circuit and the early-December deadline for Interior’s recovery determination under the September executive order. Even if those move, Michigan’s bill itself remains sitting in the House Natural Resources and Tourism Committee with no hearing currently scheduled.
