PORTLAND – A decision to relax federal protection for the gray wolf is seen as a major blow to conservationists working to restore the animal in Maine’s North Woods.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that the predator’s listing is being changed from “endangered” to “threatened.”

But although the wolves are doing well in the Great Lakes states and the northern Rocky Mountains, they remain scarce in the Northeast.

“For those folks who are avidly trying to pursue a recovery program, it’s probably just impossible now,” said Debra Davidson of the Maine Wolf Coalition.

In the northeastern states – Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York – there exists plenty of available wolf habitat, but no breeding populations have been documented.

Lisa Osborn, northeastern representative of Defenders of Wildlife, said the announcement shows the federal government is not interested in pursuing wolf recovery in the Northeast.

“As far as they’re concerned, they have done their job for wolf recovery throughout the U.S.,” she said. “We just feel that their job is not finished.”

But Ron Refsnider of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said officials have seen no solid evidence over the last two years of a wolf population living in the region.

“There’s some evidence of an individual wolf here and there, but nothing that would constitute a wolf population,” Refsnider said. “And we cannot designate a distinct population segment for gray wolves if there’s no population there.”

Farmers and ranchers in some parts of the country are allowed to kill wolves attacking their livestock, but that regulation will not apply in the Northeast, Refsnider said.

“Wolves in the Northeast will be subject to the full protections of the act as a threatened species,” he said.

Wolves have not roamed Maine’s North Woods for more than a century, and there is some uncertainty about which species inhabited the state.