[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5572]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST GRAY WOLF MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2015

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                           HON. DAN NEWHOUSE

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 2015

  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce my legislation, 
the Pacific Northwest Gray Wolf Management Act of 2015. This 
legislation would remove the Gray Wolf from the ``List of Endangered 
and Threatened Wildlife'' under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and 
return management authority for the species back to our Pacific 
Northwest states. A proposed rule released by the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service (FWS) in June of 2013 found that the Gray Wolf 
population has grown substantially and is now considered to be 
recovered, and therefore, does not merit protection under the 
Endangered Species Act.
  State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage Gray Wolf 
populations and are better to meet the needs of local communities, 
ranchers, livestock, and wildlife populations. Delisting the Gray Wolf 
would allow state wildlife officials to more effectively manage wolf 
populations. We have seen that this is possible in states such as 
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan and we 
should allow Pacific Northwest States the same flexibility to manage 
these populations. This commonsense and straightforward bill would 
allow states to provide a more practical management program than the 
one currently in place by the federal government. I urge all members to 
join me in supporting this legislation.

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