Wolf Delisting Bill to Pass Congress this Week?

[bearpaw]

Just recieved this message....


Wolf Delisting Bill to Pass Congress this Week

Folks,

It appears that a wolf delisting bill will very likely pass this week in Congress.  The wolf delisting language is included in the continuing resolution to keep the government funded.  We expect that this bill will pass by the end of this week.  The language will be a victory primarily for Idaho and Montana, though portions of Utah, Oregon and Washington are also included in the delisting.  Important language was also added yesterday to preserve Wyoming's court victory in support of important aspects of its wolf management plan.
This bill stops short of returning full state management authority back to these states, including Idaho and Montana.  So USFWS remains in a supervisory role.   If USFWS does not interfere and allows the states do their job, a wide variety of wolf management activities can be resumed by these states.  We are hopeful this would be a step in the right direction for some of these states. This action does very clearly show that Congressional action is not only possible, but also necessary to delist no longer endangered wolf populations. 

We could name a long list of names of members of Congress who have worked so diligently to delist wolf populations.   Specifically, thanks go out to Senator Hatch and Lee of Utah, Senators Barrasso and Enzi of Wyoming, Senators Crapo and Risch of Idaho, Senators Kyl and McCain of Arizona, Senators Tester and Baucus of Montana, Congressman Rehberg of Montana, Congresswoman Lummis of Wyoming, Congressman Simpson of Idaho, Congressmen Matheson, Bishop and Chaffetz of Utah.  We have not always agreed with some of these members, but all played an important role in getting wolves delisted.
Thanks also go to many sportsmen and conservation organizations that have lent their efforts and donations to Big Game Forever and to the wolf delisting efforts.  Most importantly, this victory belongs to thousands and thousands of sportsmen from all 50 states who have truly gotten in the fight to protect the future of hunting through Big Game Forever.  This week we will win an important victory in Congress that many experts said couldn't be won.  You can't win a fight, if you are not willing to fight.  So thank you to all those who have worked so diligently to make this happen.  Your phone calls, emails and ongoing efforts were constantly a major conversation among members of Congress and legislative staff.  This was truly a game changer in this fight for the future of wildlife in America.

While this has been an extremely difficult victory, it is hard to celebrate too much when we know that this bill does not delist most Western and Midwestern states.  To our friends in Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, California, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and many other states: We share your frustration that you were not included in this delisting. While it was not our decision to go with a two state bill, the actions of a few made this a self-fulfilling conclusion.  We also worked very hard to make sure the bill did not destroy Wyoming's court victory in support of the right of states to make important wildlife management decisions.  So while we celebrate the fact that Congress has now recognized that they must act to delist wolves.  We know this is not good enough to fix the challenges of unmanaged wolves across the country.

We call on all sportsmen and all members of Congress to increase their effort and resolve to finish the fight.  Thousands of emails are going to members of Congress to try to slow wolf delisting for the rest of the country.  Let’s counter this effort with thousands of emails asking members of Congress to finish the fight.  There are some who will use this two-state provision to try to kill the momentum on additional Congressional actions.  We cannot let this happen. It is time to delist wolves in all states.  Wildlife populations in the Midwest and West have suffered terribly.  It is clear that Congress is willing act to address the problems of unmanaged wolves for some states.    It is time for members of Congress to engage in the battle to delist wolves in your state and restore the primacy of states to manage their own wildlife. 

Help us finish the fight.  Ask all of your friends to join the effort at Big Game Forever to engage in this important fight for the future of hunting and wildlife in America.  Signing the petition is fast, it’s easy and it’s free.  Make a donation to help fund the ongoing efforts. 
Let’s finish what we started.
--
Ryan Benson
National Director, Big Game Forever
Please take a minute and ask your friends to sign the petition at http://biggameforever.org/

[bearpaw]

following message is from congressman Simpson of Idaho....

April 12, 2011
Simpson’s Wolf Language Included in Final Funding Bill
Continuing resolution includes language overturning court decision to return wolves in Idaho and Montana to endangered species list

Washington, D.C. – Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson issued the following statement today regarding language providing for the delisting of the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population in western states that is included in H.R. 1473, the FY2011 Continuing Resolution.  H.R. 1473 will be considered by the House and Senate later this week. Simpson is Chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“I am confident that this language gets us closer to our ultimate goal, which is seeing the entire Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population taken off the endangered species list and managed exclusively by the states,” said Simpson.  “Not only do wolf populations in the west far exceed recovery goals, but without proper management they have become so robust that they are adversely impacting other wildlife populations in the region and are spilling into other states not in the original recovery area.  This language takes an important first step by allowing for a wolf hunt this year in Idaho and Montana and allowing Wyoming to move closer to developing an approved state management plan.”

Simpson’s language overturns the August 2010 decision by a district court in Montana to put wolves in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Utah back on the endangered species list, in spite of the fact that these populations have met and exceeded recovery goals.  H.R. 1473 directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reissue its 2009 decision to delist wolves in Idaho and Montana and allows for state management, including managed hunts, in those states this year.  The language also protects the ability of the state of Wyoming to negotiate its own state management plan, which, once approved, would allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the entire Northern Rocky Mountain population.

The language comes on the heels of a decision this weekend by District Court Judge David Molloy to reject a proposed settlement between environmental groups and the federal government that would have restored state management of wolves in Idaho and Montana. Judge Molloy’s decision means wolves will remain on the federally protected list indefinitely without congressional action.

“Judge Molloy’s decision has left little doubt that without the passage of my language wolves would remain under unnecessary federal protection indefinitely,” said Simpson. “If the courts are incapable of recognizing when a species if fully recovered, then Congress will have to make that determination for them. I am glad to see Congress confirm the original intent of the endangered species act by moving to return to state control the management of a species that has met and surpassed even the most optimistic recovery goals.”

[bearpaw]

Wolf delisting rider adds final insult to environmentalists' end game on recovery
Submitted by Rocky Barker on Tue, 04/12/2011 - 7:50am.

The House Appropriations Committee released the language negotiated to remove wolves from the Endangered Species list in Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington and northern Utah.

It’s similar to language Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson added to the House’s original 2011 budget bill because it essentially required the Interior Department to reissue its 2009 delisting rule and its stops courts from overruling it. But it also ensures that the Wyoming decision that required the federal government to consider Wyoming’s wolf plan is not affected.

Here it is:
“Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this division, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the Order and Judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09-CV-118J and 09-CV-138J on November 18, 2010.”

The rider comes remarkably, at the same time U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy rejected a proposed settlement between 10 environmental groups and the federal government that would have restored state management of wolves in Idaho and Montana but leave them protected in Oregon, Washington and Utah.

“Judge Molloy’s decision has left little doubt that without the passage of my language wolves would remain under unnecessary federal protection indefinitely,” said Simpson. “If the courts are incapable of recognizing when a species if fully recovered, then Congress will have to make that determination for them.”

If you came up with a scenario to undercut the machinations of national environmental groups you couldn’t have done better that the real events. First, they won a lawsuit that they could not defend politically. Then they tried to get a do-over with a settlement that handed power to the very states they had been saying could not be trusted to manage wolves.

Needless to say many of the people who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to these groups because they love wolves are unhappy and some feel betrayed.

But the 10 settling groups could not get minor players; the Friends of the Clearwater and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies; to join them. And the Western Watersheds Project, which has built on its court victories to become a power in the West, joined the intransigents.

Molloy said in his weekend decision that he could not approve the settlement without these groups on board.
So with western Democrats like Montana Sen. Jon Tester facing a nearly impossible reelection with wolves under federal protection, Congress will set precedence by delisting a species on a bill that must pass and that environmentalists can’t stop and that they can’t challenge in court.

“This is a huge setback for one of America’s greatest conservation success stories and a significant blow to the Endangered Species Act,” said Andrew Wetzler, Director of Natural Resources Defense Counsel’s wildlife program. “Leaders from both parties are completely undercutting the basic principle of American wildlife conservation: that science should dictate which plants and animals will be protected, not the whims of politicians."

Of course, many wolf biologists, including Yellowstone's Doug Smith, endorsed delisting so it was not simply a issue of science.
Simpson, whose state leaders never wanted the wolves in the first place, sees it very differently. He was in the Legislature when the Clinton administration reintroduced wolves to Idaho and Yellowstone in 1995 and said they would be recovered when they had about 150 wolves.

Today there are 1,500 and they continue to spread despite hunting and the killing of many wolves that attack livestock.
“I am glad to see Congress confirm the original intent of the Endangered Species Act by moving to return to state control the management of a species that has met and surpassed even the most optimistic recovery goals,” Simpson said.

Can Yellowstone grizzlies be next?

Read more: http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2011/04/12/rockybarker/wolf_delisting_rider_adds_final_insult_environmentalists_end_gam#ixzz1JKKsLa4i

[bearpaw]

here's what the wolf groups are saying....

Tragic Day for American Wildlife
Posted by Peggy Clifford on Monday, April 11, 2011 

I am dismayed — and heartbroken — to report that the last-minute budget deal agreed to by Congressional leaders on Friday night will strip endangered species protection from gray wolves across most of the Northern Rockies, leaving them at the mercy of states that plan to kill hundreds of them.

This stealth attack on wolves — which circumvents the will of the courts and good science — was inserted by Representative Mike Simpson (R, ID) and Senator Jon Tester (D, MT). It was approved by the leadership of both the House and the Senate, and it was okayed by the White House.

It is a shameful day for this nation when both parties unite behind the slaughter of an endangered species — without public hearing or debate.

And there is another victim here as well: the Endangered Species Act.
Congress has never before removed an animal from the endangered species list. By replacing scientific judgment with political calculation, the House and Senate have struck at the very heart of wildlife protection in America.

We have to make sure that the political door is not thrown open to new attacks on other imperiled species.

Send a message to your Senators and Representative right now, expressing your outrage at this attack on wolves and telling them to keep their hands off the Endangered Species Act.

In the meantime, I urge you to keep faith with our shared dream of a sustainable future for wolves in the Northern Rockies. Tens of thousands of you made your voice heard over the past six months as we tried to stave off this worst-case outcome in Congress.
We fought the good fight but, in the end, we could not overcome the Beltway politics of cynicism and deal-making. We are left feeling terrible sorrow for the wolves that will now die as a result.

But make no mistake: we have fought too long and too hard for wolf recovery to give up. We always knew that achieving our goal could take years, perhaps decades. And as I write this, NRDC is already preparing for the next phase of this fight.

Our Montana office will be monitoring the states to ensure that they uphold their commitment to protect viable populations of wolves — and we intend to hold those states accountable. We will also continue to promote practical methods for ranchers to end wolf conflicts without shooting these magnificent animals.

I’ve never been more determined that wolves be allowed to roam wild and free in the Rockies. I know you’ll stand with us.

Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

P.S. Part of what makes this defeat so hard to stomach is that the Senate and White House stood strong against 18 other anti-environmental riders. Thanks to your phone calls and emails, we staved off an attempt to cripple the EPA’s ability to control air and global warming pollution. That makes the bipartisan attack on wolves all the more unconscionable

[jeepasaurusrex]

It is a shameful day for this nation when both parties unite behind the slaughter of an endangered species — without public hearing or debate.

What? The discussion about wolves has been drawn out, in and out of court. Debated over and over again. Yet this idiot thinks we should talk more.

I'm ready for a wolf tag. 

[grundy53]

Right on!

[rtspring]

Time to do a little WOLF SCOUTING,

[blubomber89]

This is great news!!!

[villageidiot]

Praise God!!!

[dreamingbig]

Yes!  I read this yesterday in all places the WSJ.  They listed it as the headliner to the recap of the policy riders that were slipped into the budget deal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703385404576258550820756980.html

[Elkaholic daWg]

  That reads like a wilderness society alert,,,,,IDIOTS!!

[Skyvalhunter]

I am sure we have not heard the end of this one from those wolf lovers.

[jackmaster]

what iritates me is that frances guy thinks that we are all blood thirsty savages and want all endangered animals delisted, HOLY *censored* FRANCES, you do not care more about OUR  animals more than the sportsman do, and just exactly how are you gonna educate farmers so they dont have to shoot wolves when they are ripping their heard of prize winning milk cows apart? I personally cant think of another animal that i want delisted so i can go out and be a savage blood thirsty freak like this FRANCES fella thinks i am and go on a killing spree....... see ya FRANCES.....