By STEVE KARNOWSKI The Associated Press
First Published 6 hours ago
Minneapolis • Several members of Congress are
preparing legislation to take gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Michigan and Wyoming off the endangered list in an attempt to undo court
decisions that have blocked the states from allowing wolf hunting and
trapping for sport and predator control.
U.S. Rep. Reed Ribble, R-Wis., is leading the
effort, his office confirmed Tuesday. Co-sponsors include U.S. Reps.
Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Dan Benishek, R-Mich., and Cynthia Lummis,
R-Wyo.
Ribble spokeswoman Katherine Mize said he
hasn’t decided exactly when to introduce the bill, but the lawmakers are
circulating a draft.
"At this point it’s already a bipartisan bill, but we’re building bipartisan support," Mize said.
The legislation is in response to a ruling
by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., last month that threw out an
Obama administration decision to "delist" wolves in the western Great
Lakes region, where the combined wolf population is estimated at around
3,700. That followed a similar decision by a different federal judge in
September that stripped Wyoming of its wolf management authority and
returned that state’s wolves to federal protections under the Endangered
Species Act.
Ribble’s bill uses a strategy that succeeded in
taking wolves in Idaho and Montana off the endangered list after court
challenges by environmentalists blocked those efforts. Congress took
matters into its own hands in 2011 and lifted the federal protections
for wolves in those two states, which then allowed hunting and trapping
to resume.
Peterson, the most senior member of Minnesota’s
congressional delegation, said he didn’t know what the prospects are
for this legislation, but he said they’re probably better than they were
in 2011 given that Republicans now control the Senate. He said he’s
working to line up support from other lawmakers.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said in her
111-page ruling that the delisting, which took effect in 2012, was no
more valid than the government’s three previous attempts over more than a
decade. While wildlife managers in the three western Great Lakes states
say their wolf populations are no longer endangered and can sustain
limited hunting and trapping, Howell criticized the states’ regulatory
plans as inadequate. She also said wolves still need federal protections
because they haven’t repopulated all of their historic range.
Peterson said he has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to appeal her decision and was confident it would be overturned.
Fish and Wildlife spokesman Gavin Shire said no
decision has been made on appealing Howell’s December ruling but said
the agency did not appeal the Wyoming decision within the 60-day limit.
He said the service wasn’t aware of any proposed legislation to delist
wolves and couldn’t comment on it.
Under Howell’s ruling, wolves reverted to
"threatened" status in Minnesota and "endangered" in Wisconsin and
Michigan. Sport hunting and trapping is banned again in all three
states, and Wisconsin and Michigan government officials can’t kill
wolves for preying on livestock or pets — only to protect human life.
Doug Peterson, president of the Minnesota
Farmers Union, said he believes the ruling is already affecting farms
and ranches, particularly smaller family farms where the loss of a cow
or calf or two puts a big dent in incomes.
"At some point people are going to do what
they’re going to do to protect their livestock. That ends up being a
problem," he said.
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