Prohibiting Treatment of Gray Wolves as an Endangered Species

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Ranchers and landowners in the northeast part of the state have been plagued by wolf depredations and have repeatedly asked for better wolf management practices by state and federal agencies. Dan Newhouse, Washington farmer, former state Director of Ag, and now U.S. Congressman representing Washington’s 4th District, has introduced H.R. 1985, the Pacific Northwest Gray Wolf Management Act of 2015 that would remove the gray wolf from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife under the federal Endangered Species Act, and return management authority for the species back to the states.

NEWHOUSE: Well, delisting means it takes it takes it off the protection list, that it’s no longer on the endangered list, and so it would actually open up more avenues for control of problem animals. And actually, from what I understand, there is a great deal of interest on the part of producers in the state of Washington to do just this, as well as our state Fish and Wildlife agency. So, this is an effort to help that process along, and give the producers, the communities, the tools they need to protect themselves, if in fact they feel threatened, or are threatened by some of those - hate to use the term “lone wolves” - but you know sometimes individuals in populations become a problem and have to be dealt with, and this will give them the ability to do that.

Newhouse stressed that “states are fully qualified to manage gray wolf populations responsibly and are better equipped to meet the needs of local communities, ranchers, livestock, and wildlife populations. Delisting the gray wolf under ESA would allow state wildlife officials to manage wolf populations more effectively”.

That’s Washington Ag Today.

I’m Lacy Gray with the Ag Information Network of the West.