Labrador Co-Sponsors Rehberg Legislation Seeking to Return Wolf Management Authority to the States

Press Release

Rehberg's legislation responds to frustration throughout Montana and around the country after a U.S. District Court Judge in Missoula effectively returned gray wolves to the Endangered Species List. The fact that wolf populations have far surpassed even the revised recovery goals established by the Endangered Species Act (30 breeding pairs and 300 wolves for eight consecutive years) hasn't stopped a few well-funded special interest groups from using dirty tricks to keep the gray wolf listed as endangered.
The first bill Rehberg introduced today incorporates input from thousands of public comments he solicited from Montanans online and at three widely attended public Wolf Impact Hearings in Western Montana last year. The legislation addresses the unique needs of the people he heard from in Montana and Idaho. The legislation is co-sponsored by Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID) and Raúl Labrador (R-ID).

"Increasing numbers of wolves in Idaho show that protection under the endangered species act is no longer needed," said Labrador. "The endangered species act is a tool to recover a species, not a program for infinite and never-ending federal oversight. The wolves are thriving, the science is definitive and the time has come to delist the gray wolf permanently."

"As we look for a viable long-term solution to this issue that returns the authority to manage wolves within their borders to the states, I depend on the input and advice of the Idahoans who are most impacted by the court's decision to relist wolves," said Simpson. "This input is reflected in these bills, and I look forward to working with Congressmen Rehberg and Labrador to move forward on this issue by seeing this bill signed into law."

The second bill responds to the desire he heard to expand the effort beyond just Montana and Idaho. The national solution was introduced by Congressman Rehberg with bipartisan support from the following cosponsors: Jim Matheson (D-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mike Ross (D-AR), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Dan Boren (D-OK), Paul Broun (R-GA), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Dean Heller (R-NV), John Kline (R-MN), Raul Labrador (R-ID), Mike Simpson (R-ID), Greg Walden (R-OR) and Don Young (R-AK). The one-page bill says that the Endangered Species Act shall not apply to gray wolves -- across the board.

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