Today the Public Lands Council (PLC), National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), and American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) praised the passage of H.R. 6784, the Manage our Wolves Act. The Act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to remove the gray wolf from federal protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Similar action was initially proposed by the FWS under the Obama Administration in 2011 and 2012. Prior to today’s vote, PLC, NCBA, and ASI, along with 37 additional livestock and agriculture organizations, sent a letter support for the bill to House leadership.
“Since 2011, the best scientific and commercial data available has supported removing gray wolves from the List of Threatened and Endangered Species,” said NCBA President Kevin Kester. “It is encouraging to see the House of Representatives take this important step to make the Endangered Species Act work the way it was intended.”
In addition to requiring the FWS to reissue the Obama-era rules, H.R. 6784 would require further rulemaking to remove ESA protections for gray wolves across the contiguous United States. Current and emerging science continues to find that wolf populations have been fully recovered nationwide.
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