President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at giving American ranchers greater tools to protect their livestock from wolf predation as the administration seeks to strengthen the nation’s cattle industry.

The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to determine within 90 days whether gray wolves and Mexican wolves have met the recovery requirements necessary for delisting or downlisting under the Endangered Species Act. If those criteria are determined to have been met, the administration is directed to begin the process of changing their federal protections.

The order also calls for federal officials to develop legislative recommendations for delisting or downlisting the species and to work with states on potentially changing state-level protections and standards governing the lethal removal of wolves. The Agriculture and Interior departments are also directed to review how livestock depredation claims are investigated and compensated.

The action comes after years of disputes between livestock producers and federal wildlife officials over Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. The species was reintroduced into the Southwest beginning in 1998 and remains protected under the Endangered Species Act. Ranchers have argued that wolf predation can result in significant livestock losses and have sought greater authority to defend their herds.

The White House framed the order as part of a broader effort to support ranchers and rebuild the American cattle herd, which is currently at its lowest level in decades. The administration has also taken other steps targeting the beef industry, including measures involving meat processing and country-of-origin labeling.

The executive order does not itself immediately remove federal protections for Mexican gray wolves. Instead, it directs the administration to evaluate whether the animals have recovered sufficiently to warrant changes under federal law and to pursue additional measures that could give ranchers greater flexibility in responding to predation.

The administration’s actions are expected to face opposition from conservation groups, which argue that reducing federal protections could threaten wolf recovery efforts.