The Obama administration is proposing to end recovery efforts for grey wolves across most of the US and return management to the states.
Today's announcement comes after wolves rebounded from widespread extermination during four decades on the endangered species list.
US Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe says ending federal protections would let the agency concentrate on restoring Mexican wolves in the Southwest.
Grey wolf protections previously were lifted in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, which now have more than 6,100 wolves.
Some scientists and conservationists insist the government's work is not done. They say wolves need continued protections so they can return to parts of their historical range in the Pacific Northwest, the southern Rockies and the Northeast.