Wisconsin Congressman Introduces Legislation to Delist the Gray Wolf

Friday, February 10th, 2023 -- 9:01 AM

(Wisconsin Ag Connection) U.S. Reps. Tom Tiffany, R-Wisconsin, and Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, led 21 members of Congress in reintroducing legislation to delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List.

Proponents argue that Trust the Science Act follows the scientific recommendation of wildlife experts that the gray wolf should be removed from the Endangered Species List and that gray wolf populations should be managed by states instead of one-size-fits-all federal government regulation.

"It's a scientific fact that the gray wolf has recovered well past its recovery goal," Tiffany says. "Saying otherwise undermines the purpose of the Endangered Species Act. This is a true recovery success story, and it's past time to give states the reins to control their wolf populations."

The Trust the Science Act requires the Secretary of Interior to reissue the 2020 Department of the Interior final rule that delisted gray wolves in the lower 48 United States and ensures that the reissuance of the final rule will not be subject to judicial review by activist judges, Tiffany's office explains in a release.

"Wisconsin farmers should not be subject to the judicial whims of a judge hundreds of miles away. It's time Wisconsin is allowed to take full control of the management of the state's top predator," says Wisconsin Farm Bureau President Kevin Krentz. "The science is proven. Wisconsin's wolves have been recovered, and it's time for the management phase of this Endangered Species Act success story."

In 2020, the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted the gray wolf in the lower 48 United States through a process that included the best science and data available.

At over 6,000 wolves at the time of delisting, the gray wolf has been the latest Endangered Species Act success story with recoveries with significant populations in the Rocky Mountains and western Great Lakes regions, says the release.

"We believe the relisting of the grey wolf was a mistake and should have never been done," says Mid States Wool Growers Association General Manager Dave Rowe. "The reintroduction of the grey wolf into farming and ranching communities put great pressure on those families in terms of their personal safety and the livestock that they care for."

Of the 21 members of Congress who cosponsored Tiffany's bill were Wisconsin's five other Republican House members: U.S. Reps. Brian Steil, Derrick Van Orden, Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman and Mike Gallagher.

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