WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, legislation that Congressman Tom Tiffany (WI-07) introduced alongside Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-03) to delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) received its first hearing in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries. H.R. 746, the Trust the Science Act, would permanently remove the gray wolf from the list of federal endangered species and restore authority to control the gray wolf population back to where it belongs: In the hands of state lawmakers and state wildlife officials.
“For too long, the Endangered Species Act has been a statutory ‘Hotel California,' where radical environmental groups and judges check animals into the Endangered Species List – but never let them leave," said Congressman Tiffany. “The gray wolf is a true recovery success story, and it’s past time to celebrate this accomplishment by removing them from the Endangered Species List and restoring control back to those who know our state's wolf population best: Wisconsinites.”
“There's no doubt that we have passed the thresholds for [gray wolf] recovery,” said Dr. Nathan Roberts, former Bear, Wolf, and Furbearer Research Scientist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “And I also believe that there are the state regulatory mechanisms that are in place and competent authorities within those states to manage wolves.”
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 significant population recoveries in the Rocky Mountains and western Great Lakes regions. However, despite ample scientific evidence of the gray wolf’s recovery, a California judge unilaterally relisted the gray wolf under the ESA last year.
23 Members of Congress cosponsored Rep. Tiffany and Rep. Boebert’s Trust the Science Act, including the entire Wisconsin Republican Congressional Delegation.
Groups that have supported the Trust the Science Act in the 117th Congress or the 118th Congress include, but are not limited to: BigGame Forever, Hunter Nation, IOTR-International Order of T. Roosevelt, Mid States Wool Growers Association, Minnesota Farm Bureau, Minnesota Lamb & Wool Producers Association, Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association, National Rifle Association (NRA), Safari Club International (SCI), Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, Western Caucus, Wisconsin Cattleman’s Association, and Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. A full list of the groups can be found here.
Rep. Tom Tiffany's full committee remarks can be viewed below:
Last Update: Mar 23, 2023 3:32 pm CDT
