Representatives from two of Maine’s native tribes testified against a federal proposal to remove the gray wolf from the federal threatened and endangered species list this week, arguing that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a legal responsibility to consult with them before making such decisions.

“This is a blatant disregard for the presence of the tribes in the Northeast,” Brenda Commander, chief of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, said during Wednesday night’s public hearing in Orono.

Federal biologists have proposed removing federal protection for wolves in 21 states, stretching from the Dakotas to Maine, because wolf packs in the Great Lakes region have grown to levels that meet conservation goals set three decades ago.

Neither the Maliseets nor the Old Town-based Penobscot Indian Nation support the delisting, both saying that federal protection is necessary to allow wolves to recolonize Maine naturally from Quebec – something that many wolf advocates believe is beginning to happen.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to make a decision on the wolf issue by July 2005. But regardless of the final outcome, the two tribes believe that the federal government is on shaky legal ground.

Federal officials have a responsibility to consult with tribes whenever they propose an action that would affect natural resources located on tribal land. This so-called “trust responsibility” stems from treaties that individual tribes signed with the federal government as well as legal decisions interpreting those documents. Additionally, recent presidents, including George W. Bush, have signed executive orders directing federal agencies to work cooperatively with tribes and keep their trust responsibility in mind.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representatives Wednesday spoke of working side-by-side with tribes in the Great Lakes region and in Idaho, to promote wolf recovery.

But John Banks, natural resources director for the Penobscots, interprets this to mean that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should have met on a “government-to-government basis” with all of the federally recognized tribes in all 21 states affected by the rule.

John Echohawk, executive director of the Colorado-based Native American Rights Fund, agreed, saying Thursday that according to legal precedent and the Bush administration order, all tribes in those 21 states must be a part of the process.

“Just consulting with a few tribes doesn’t do it for all the tribes,” he said.

D.J. Monette, who serves as the Northeast region liaison between tribes and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Thursday that “consultation” can take many different forms, and that he has attempted to remain in contact with local tribes on the wolf issue over the past few years, sending e-mails and meeting in person with representatives of several tribes.

Thursday, he reiterated his department’s intention to work cooperatively, and volunteered to meet with tribal members to discuss the wolf issue.

“We’re going to talk about it and see how we can accommodate some of the concerns that the tribes have right now,” Monette said.

But the offer may be too little, too late, Banks said Thursday, explaining that his tribe is “considering its legal options.”

In previous endangered and threatened species cases, such as ones involving the Atlantic salmon and Canada lynx, more formal consultations were done, he said. But in this case, the tribes felt shut out, Banks said. The federal agency did not inform the tribe of its intent to delist wolves until the general public notice was published in July, he said.

Even the cards filled out by those who testified at Wednesday night’s hearing contained categories for state officials and representatives of nonprofit groups, but none for tribes, he said.

Yet the Penobscots, with 10,000 years here, have a long history of being associated with wolves in Maine, Banks said.

Commander also described her people’s historic link to the wolf at Wednesday night’s public hearing. Native people in Maine are in the midst of a period of cultural reinvigoration, encouraging young people to take an interest in their history, language and cultural tradition. The absence of the wolf in Maine leaves a gap in that cultural education, she said.

The Maliseets hope to work with state and federal officials to protect wolves if they migrate back into Maine. In fact, the tribe has drafted plans for a wolf education program, Commander said Wednesday night.

“We want to be able to reconnect with one of our lost kin,” she said.