There’s good news in the long-running attempt to restore native biodiversity in North Carolina.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) has agreed to a settlement with three wildlife protection groups, to resume its efforts to restore and protect critically endangered red wolves in the wild in North Carolina.

The revitalized restoration program will include working with zoos and wildlife sanctuaries for captive breeding efforts allowing continued releases into the wild, and protection of the released wolves and their offspring. For the next eight years, USFWS will prepare and release annual updates of the restoration plan, by December 1 of each year, accompanied by a public briefing. The project is based in an area of eastern North Carolina which is part of the wolves’ historic natural range.

The settlement comes in the case filed in 2020 against the USFWS for its 2015 abandonment of previously successful management strategies, which over more than two preceding decades had restored a population of more than 100 wolves in the targeted range area. The case was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) on behalf of the Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Animal Welfare Institute.

“For 25 years, North Carolina was home to one of the most successful predator reintroductions in the world. This settlement puts us on a path to restoring the red wolf to its rightful place as a celebrated success story,” said Ramona McGee, senior attorney and leader of SELC’s Wildlife Program. “We hope to see America’s wild red wolves rebound again, with generations born free and wild, as a result of this agreement.”

“This settlement marks a new era for the Red Wolf Recovery Program and guarantees action in the near-term to give this species the best chance for long-term survival and recovery,” said Ben Prater, Southeast program director at Defenders of Wildlife. “We now have a durable solution and an enduring commitment to wild red wolf conservation.”

“This latest settlement agreement lays out a road map, along with other management actions by the USFWS, for the survival of red wolves in the wild,” said Kim Wheeler, executive director of Red Wolf Coalition. “It will take continued hard work and collaborative efforts, by all stakeholders, to build a solid foundation that will see red wolf restoration well into the future. The Red Wolf Coalition sees this settlement agreement as one of the building blocks of that strong foundation.”