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New Wolf Language in House Appropriates Bill! Folks,I am writing with a very important development in Congress on the wolf front. New Wolf language has been added to the pending House Appropriations bill. This language specifically is intended to address delisting decision in relation to Wyoming, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. It again fails to address Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. I will provide some more details below, but first the text of the budget rider:Sec. 119. Hereafter, any final rule published by the Department of the Interior that provides that the gray wolf (Canis lupus) in the State of Wyoming or in any of the States within the range of the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment of the gray wolf (as defined in the rule published on May 5, 2011 (76. Fed. Reg. 26086 et seq.)) is not an endangered species or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), including any rule to remove such species in such a State from the list of endangered species or threatened species published under that Act, shall not be subject to judicial review if such State has entered into an agreement with the Secretary of the Interior that authorizes the State to manage gray wolves in that State.Unlike the earlier appropriations bill, this bill does not provide for delisting by itself, but instead requires "a final rule published by the Department of the Interior." Given the apparent progress on Midwestern delisting and also progress on negotiations between UFWS and Wyoming, some feel that expanded delisting under this language could come very soon.The drawback is that the bill also likely has the effect of increasing the authority of USFWS by giving their final rule the full weight of law. This should be a serious concern to all of us. It is time to return more authority to the states rather than giving more authority to the federal government. The bill also fails to address the possibility that judge Molloy may once again shut down the hunts in Idaho and Montana. In other words, there is plenty of room for improvement on the new language.The good news is that many members of Congress continue to push for wolf delisting in Congress. Once again it appears that efforts are being made to expand delisting, but concerns remain whether this incremental approach needs to be improved. The era of federal control over wolf populations is coming to an end. It is time to acknowledge that fact and return full power to the states. We encourage members of Congress to consider improving on this wolf language in committee. The bill will be in committee very soon. We strongly urge that it is far past time to fulfill the promises to return the power to the states to manage and protect wildlife within their states.-- Ryan Bensonhttp://biggameforever.org/ryandbenson@msn.com
