Here's how Idaho's congressional delegation reacted to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to remove Idaho and Montana's wolf populations from the federal government's endangered species list.

The move comes after Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, attached language to the 2010-11 budget "continuing resolution" to return the wolf to state management.

Simpson: No one can rationally argue that the Rocky Mountain gray wolf is still endangered. Wolf populations in the West are robust and far exceed recovery goals. ... If the Endangered Species Act is going to be effective at all, we need to remove recovered species from the list and consider it a victory. In this case, instead of recognizing that wolves have made a strong recovery, advocates have been intent on listing them in perpetuity, preventing wildlife managers from making good management decisions and undercutting the intent of the ESA. Today we’re finally moving past this controversy, putting wolf management back into the hands of the state, where it belongs.

Gov. Butch Otter, R-Idaho: Otter issued a news release today with comments he made to a reporter about the delisting: Actually we didn’t want them here at all. But (environmentalists) said, ‘Don’t worry about it, because you will only have a hundred wolves.' It is estimated we have over 1700. So we have far exceeded their expectations, and so it is time to do the right thing. And Secretary Salazar, under the direction of the concurrent resolution, is doing the right thing.

Otter, on the timetable for wolf hunting in Idaho: You can probably expect within the next couple of weeks some announcements on the calendar of when the wolf hunt will begin, how many we will be taking. In ’09 our quota was 220. We successfully took 188 wolves and it will be that same kind of response and that same kind of responsible management plan.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho: I commend the Department of the Interior and Fish and Wildlife Service for promptly complying with the wolf delisting provision that was included in the recently passed continuing resolution for the remainder of this fiscal year. ... As I have said on many occasions, the wolf is recovered in the northern Rockies and the state of Idaho has proven that it can and will effectively and responsibly manage wolves. Now that the federal government has taken this step, the state of Idaho can finally get to work.

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho: Common sense has finally prevailed when it comes to managing wolves in Idaho. ... This species is fully recovered and now state wildlife experts can manage gray wolves just like other predator species found throughout the state. It is unfortunate that it was such an arduous task to get this issue resolved.

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho: The original purpose of the ESA has been perverted to do the bidding of activist environmentalists. This is the first step to ensuring these groups no longer misuse the ESA to permanently protect a species regardless of its recovery. The recovery of the gray wolf took place several years ago and since that recovery many Idahoan ranches and outfitting businesses have suffered through the killing of livestock and prime hunting herds by these apex predators. We must remain vigilant in the future to other overbearing federal restrictions on state sovereignty. This is a great example of a crisis that could have and should have been handled by the state itself and not the federal government.