When President Trump signed the Omnibus spending bill recently he kept the government running.
One little publicized development was a move by members of Congress to remove the gray wolf from federal endangered species protection. That was eliminated from the bill Trump signed. The move stops states from managing gray wolf populations and leaves it in federal control through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Great Lakes Field Representative for the Endangered Species Coalition Melissa Smith says members of Congress tried to put the policy issue inside the funding bill...
"....it's out feeling that a stand-alone wolf de-listing bill would never pass Congress. So they tried to slip that in to remove wolves from the endangered species act but more importantly subject to no judicial review. Meaning, taking away the rights of citizens to take away the rights of citizens to challenge our government if we feel they haven't acted ethically or followed protocol...."
Smith says Wisconsin's Congressional delegation received many calls asking to keep wolves protected...
"....if wolves are to be de-listed, fine, go through proper procedure, go through U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and have them use best available science to de-list the wolf, not with political maneuvering in Congress with a budget bill...."
Wisconsin Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin, as well as Representative Sean Duffy, voiced support for de-listing the gray wolf. Johnson's office said he would continue to get the de-listing done.
In 2012, the gray wolf was de-listed from in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. In 2014, the wolves were returned to the federal protection after a lawsuit. In Wisconsin, lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban enforcing laws aimed at managing Wisconsin’s wolf population. The language would also prohibit the state DNR from spending any money to manage wolves , other than paying claims for losses due to predation.
