“It’s time to Stop Hiding Behind Activist Judges and D.C Bureaucracy and Recognize the Successful Recovery of the Grizzly”
U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines sent a letter this week requesting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expeditiously complete their 12-month review of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly bears and delist these recovered populations, so the state of Montana can manage wolf populations. Delisting the two populations of grizzly bears would remove the argument litigants are using to block Montana’s wolf trapping regulations. Montana shows every day it can successfully manage stable wolf populations. Litigants in the District Court case misrepresented Montana’s regulations and used the strawman argument of possible harm to grizzly bears to block wolf trapping regulations that were specifically tailored to protect grizzly bears.
“Allowing serial litigants to continue to use the listing of grizzlies under the ESA to block everything from wolf management to forest management is irresponsible and hurts our Montana way of life,” said Daines. “It’s past time to allow the state of Montana to use common sense to manage our wildlife populations.”
In the letter Daines sent to FWS Director Martha Williams, Daines wrote:
“The litigation uses the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the current listed status of grizzly bears as a wedge to block the state from implementing science-based wolf trapping regulations. This weaponization of the ESA is not serving the intended end of recovering species, but rather alienates state and local partners who are best positioned to make positive gains for wildlife,” Daines wrote in part.
“The evidence shows that Montana’s wolf trapping regulations are carefully crafted to protect grizzlies, which only reinforces that the state is ready and able to handle the management of both species,” Daines continued.
Click HERE to read the full letter.