Bills
| 3.23.22

Should Endangered Species Protections for Gray Wolves in the Lower 48 States Be Removed? (H.R. 6784)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 6784?

(Updated May 14, 2021)

This bill — the Manage our Wolves Act — would remove the gray wolf in the contiguous 48 states from the protection Endangered Species Act (ESA), effectively allowing states to manage their populations of wolves as has been occurring in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming since the species was delisted in the Northern Rockies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would issue a rule that delists gray wolves from the ESA in the lower 48 states.

The gray wolf was initially listed as “endangered” in 1974 when only a few hundred wild gray wolves remained in Michigan and Minnesota. Reintroduction began in 1995 and they were reclassified to “threatened” in 2003 across the lower 48 states but a 2005 court ruling reversed the change. Since then, the Northern Rockies gray wolves have been delisted from the ESA because of their recovery. Populations are currently estimated at about 3,700 in the Great Lakes region and 1,675 in the Northern Rockies (Alaska has an estimated 7,000 to 11,200 gray wolves that aren’t threatened or endangered).

Argument in favor

Populations of gray wolves in the lower 48 states have recovered since they were first added to the Endangered Species list over 40 years ago and are no longer endangered (in some cases preying on livestock). The time has come to allow states across the gray wolf’s range to manage their populations, which has already been occurring in the Northern Rockies states.

Argument opposed

While progress has been made, gray wolf populations aren’t yet robust enough to justify their being delisted from the Endangered Species Act across the lower 48 states. In states where their protected status has been removed, gray wolves have been hunted for sport and killed by farmers protecting livestock so a broader delisting would lead to more wolves being killed.

Impact

Gray wolves; farmers; hunters; and state wildlife agencies.

Cost of H.R. 6784

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would cost less than $500,000.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) introduced this bill to return management of gray wolves to state control by removing the animal from the endangered species list because populations have recovered since their reintroduction:

“Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to use science-based wildlife management for our own gray wolf population, because we know what’s better for our state’s ecosystem better than activist judges in Washington. I’m proud to introduce bipartisan legislation to delist the gray wolf because Wisconsin farmers deserve to be able to protect their livestock, and they should not suffer because of the decisions made by an overreaching federal government a thousand miles away.”

House Democrats opposed this bill in the Natural Resources Committee, writing:

“While the population of the gray wolf has increased, the species currently only occupies five percent of its historic range in the lower 48 states. Gray wolves can only be found in the Great Lakes, northern Rockies, and Pacific Northwest. Wolves still face persecution from hunters and agricultural interests and are only beginning to recolonize areas where they were long a critical part of ecosystems. This legislation would strike a damaging blow in the continued recovery of gray wolves in the contiguous 48 states.”

This legislation passed the House Natural Resources Committee on a party-line 19-15 vote, and has the support of three Republican cosponsors.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Andyworks)