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Statement by Senator John McCain on Interior Department's Opposition to Grand Canyon Bison Management Act

Statement

Date: June 12, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Animals and Wildlife Environment

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement today on testimony by the Interior Department this week opposing legislation he introduced with Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) that would enlist volunteer hunters to cull bison and protect lands inside Grand Canyon National Park:

"The bison population inside Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park has exploded to over 600, overgrazing and destroying its pristine lands, and yet the Interior Department says it opposes our bill because it's busy conducting its own study which began in April 2014 and won't be completed until December 2016 at the earliest. Nowhere in its testimony did the Interior Department argue that our common-sense solution to enlist volunteer hunters wouldn't work. Hunters are eager to help manage these herds and will recover the full animal carcass at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer. The Interior Department is taking too long to advance a solution to stop the degradation of Grand Canyon National Park, which I believe must be preserved and protected so that it remains a national treasure for generations to come."


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