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BILLINGS, Mont. • An environmental group has filed notice that it will sue the federal government to force it to adopt a plan for the recovery of gray wolves across the lower 48 states.
The predators were poisoned and trapped to near-extermination in the United States in the last century. But they have bounced back in some wilderness areas over the last few decades.
Biologists with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity said Tuesday they want to expand that recovery nationwide.
In the notice filed with the Interior Department, the group says it will sue within 60 days if the agency doesn't act to expand wolf ranges.
About 6,000 wolves live in the U.S. outside Alaska, with most of those in the Great Lakes and Northern Rockies. They are listed as endangered except in Alaska.