Senators intro bipartisan bill to delist gray wolf

Press Release

U.S. Senators Ron Johnson, R-Wis., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced bipartisan legislation today that would delist the gray wolf in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota from the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The bill restores the wolf to the status determined to be appropriate by Department of Interior wildlife experts.

The bill would also allow wolf management plans that are based on federal and state wildlife expertise to move forward without any legal ambiguity.

"Wyoming has honored its commitment and put together a solid plan to protect the state's wolf population," Barrasso said. "Even the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees that wolves in Wyoming should be taken off the endangered species list. It's time to move forward, recognize the science and focus taxpayer resources on truly imperiled species. This bill is just one of many legislative opportunities we'll continue to pursue until Wyoming's wolf management plan is protected and fully implemented."

"The people who are closest to the areas where wolves are being delisted have the best understanding of how to manage them and should be left to do so. This bill would allow that to happen without interference from the courts," Enzi said. "This is an issue that Wyoming has been dealing with for decades. I trust local wildlife managers to manage wildlife better than judges, lawyers and the self-serving administrators and lobbyists of environmental groups in Washington thousands of miles away."

In late 2014, a judge in Washington, D.C., returned the gray wolf to the Endangered Species List by overruling a management plan agreed to by the Department of the Interior and several states. This bill would direct the secretary of the interior to reissue final rules related to the listing in those states affected.

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