Elk vanished from Wisconsin in the 1800s due to hunting and shrinking habitat as prairies became farmland.................... The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point reintroduced the animal in 1995, setting 25 Michigan elk loose near Clam Lake in Ashland County................. The DNR adopted a management plan in 2000 that called for growing the herd to 1,400 elk...............At this point only about 175 of the animals roam Wisconsin and the Dept. of Natural Resources will not authorize any type hunt until the herd reaches at least 200 strong.....Habitat constraints(a lack of young Aspen trees which are a favorite food of Elk), car collisions, several hard winters and carnivore predation have combined to create a slow-growth paradigm for the Elk

DNR: No elk hunt this year

By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

sfgate.com

• 
  
  

Wisconsin law prohibits elk hunting until the state's herd surpasses 200 animals. But lack of food, car kills and predators have kept the herd small for years. Department of Natural Resources biologists were hopeful the herd would finally reach the 200 mark this year, but Kevin Wallenfang, the agency's big game ecologist, said population models show the herd will be only about 175 strong this spring after calving.

"After calving you're only going to lose animals," Wallenfang said. "We are just not at that 200-animal level yet."

Elk vanished from Wisconsin in the 1800s due to hunting and shrinking habitat as prairies became farmland. The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point reintroduced the animal in 1995, setting 25 Michigan elk loose near Clam Lake in Ashland County. The DNR adopted a management plan in 2000 that called for growing the herd to 1,400 elk and establishing a 390-elk herd in Jackson County.

But the Clam Lake herd has struggled. The area lacks young aspen trees, a favorite elk food source, and wolves, bears and collisions with cars have combined to keep their numbers down.

The discovery of chronic wasting disease in the state's deer herd in 2002 put the brakes on establishing the Jackson County herd. Regulations designed to slow the disease's spread prohibited bringing a deer or elk into the state unless the animals originated from a counted herd verified as disease-free for five years. Those rules have effectively halted wild elk importation since wild herds can't be quantified or confirmed disease-free.

Wildlife officials have ramped up their efforts to bolster the herd over the last year or so, though, saying they understand elk better now and believe they can import healthy elk from elsewhere.

The Natural Resources Board adopted a revised elk management plan in December that calls for importing up to 275 wild elk, possibly from Kentucky, over a three-to-five year period. The effort could cost up to $560,000, but the plan notes a number of groups, have pledged to cover the expense, including the Ho-Chunk Nation, the Jackson County Wildlife Fund and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

At least 200 elk would join the Clam Lake herd and at least 75 would go to Jackson County. DNR officials would make an effort to better disperse both herds across their ranges, which would, in theory, cut down on car collisions and predator kills. Provisions in Gov. Scott Walker's executive budget would exempt the elk from the CWD rules. The budget still would require DNR officials to determine the animals are healthy to the best of their ability.

Wallenfang said the earliest new elk might arrive in the state would be 2015.

Larry Bonde is vice chairman of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, a group of influential sportsmen who advise the DNR on policy. He said hunters probably will react to postponing the hunt with a shrug.

They understand Wisconsin's elk have been struggling for years and if a hunt is ever established the DNR likely will issue only a handful of licenses, he said. After the population reaches 200 animals, DNR regulations allow hunters to kill 5 percent of the herd, however large it is. Half of that quota would be reserved for Chippewa tribal hunters according to treaty stipulations that grant the tribes the right to 50 percent of the quota for any animal hunted in northern Wisconsin.

"People are disappointed but what are you going to do?" Bonde said. "The expectations for a hunt are pretty low right now. I don't think it's anything where the sportsmen are sitting there clamoring, 'I want it, I want it, I want it.'"

Wisconsin's Chippewa bands authorized tribal members to kill one elk last September, citing treaties that grant them the right to hunt and fish in northern Wisconsin. The decision angered DNR officials, who maintained the move was a setback for state-tribal relations.

Very slow progress(but progress nonetheless) over the past 16 years for the once plummeting Pronghorn population in Mexico--170 animals in 1997-----close to 300 today getting protection in the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve..................Much more needs to be done on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border in terms of habitat protection(and border fence openings) for this fleet- of- foot browser to be free and clear of an extinction crisis

Pronghorns making a comeback in Mexico

globalpost.com

Desierto de El Vizcaino, Mexico,- The pronghorn, a native

species that has been listed as being in danger of extinction

since 1997, is making a comeback in Mexico, thanks to the

efforts of several organizations.

More than 250 adults and 40 young pronghorns are

currently being cared for at the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve.

The peninsular pronghorn (antilocapra americana), which

 also lives in desert areas of the United States and in

Canada, inhabits the El Vizcaino reserve, which protects

mountains, desert and sea.

Only 170 of the animals were counted in 1997, prompting

 environmentalists to sound the alarm.

The Environment

Secretariat and environmental groups have worked since

then to bring about the animals' recovery via the "Save the

Pronghorns" campaign.

Several females that recently gave birth are at the La Choya

station, which sprawls over more than 23,000 hectares

(56,790 acres).

The pronghorns are about one meter (three feet) tall and

weigh around 50 kilos (110 pounds).

Our friend and former U.S. Wildlife Services employee and the author of WOLFER,,,,,,,,,,,,,Carter Niemeyer is as "up close and in personal" as anyone in North America can be on Wolf restoration and the anti-Wolf movement in the Rocky Mountain West.......................Carter is dismayed to hear himself admit to the fact that in his opinion, "state legislatures have gone off the deep end in persecuting wolves"................ "Wolves can take a lot but then what do the legislatures have on their agendas in coming years - maybe drones, maybe poison, maybe bounties, maybe year round denning of wolf pups"............ "I absolutely believe that legislatures will take it that far".......... "Payback to the feds and the wolf advocates, all based on anecdotal bullshit that wolves are impacting livestock, pets and ungulates"............While I hate myself for saying this,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I HAVE TO AGREE WITH CARTER............Unless some type of "hail mary" 11th hour negotiated plan between state righters, Enviros and the Feds can be brokered, it appears that under the most progressive minded President ever(OBAAMA), 50 years of species restoration and pro biological diversity headway is going to come to a screeching halt.................Carter, than you as always for your candor and insights

From: Niemeyer 
Subject:: Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus signs on the Gray Wolf Letter - Who would have guessed...........?

Hi All

I think gray wolf delisting is a done deal myself. Too bad but those are the vibes I get at every turn. After working for the feds and watching them operate - the USFWS is going to bail out on wolves in my humble opinion. While state management was the ultimate goal I believe most states will treat wolves like vermin. It is the easy path to take but I hope the feds keep watching and measuring the population. 

Will adequate regulatory mechanisms be maintained? Maybe, but the state legislatures have gone off the deep end in persecuting wolves - more so than the "sportsmen" can deliver with guns, snares and traps. The state legislatures have gone nuts or I would call it "reckless". Wolves can take a lot but then what do the legislatures have on their agendas in coming years - maybe drones, maybe poison, maybe bounties, maybe year round denning of wolf pups. I absolutely believe that legislatures will take it that far. Payback to the feds and the wolf advocates, all based on anecdotal bullshit that wolves are impacting livestock, pets and ungulates.....

I think wolves are here to stay and that sportsmen's efforts will wain. That is when the legislatures will take it too far.... That is my prediction. I hope I am wrong. In the meantime, the watchdogs better work overtime.....

Carter

ON CAPITOL HILL Members of the Congressional Sportsmen's  Caucus Sign on to Gray Wolf Letter On March 22, 64 members of the Congressional  Sportsmen's Caucus (CSC) signed on to a bipartisan  letter addressed to Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish  and Wildlife Service (USFWS), supporting the nationwide  delisting of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act.  The letter, signed by 59 Members of the House of  Representatives and 13 Members of the U.S. Senate...

--
Carter Niemeyer

Read my memoir, Wolfer(click on link below)

www.carterniemeyer.com

George Wuerthner and Norm Bishop shared this Journal of Applied Ecology Abstract entitled FEMALE ELK SURVIVAL ACROSS WESTERN NORTH AMERICA............As we know, severe winter weather ups the ante on how successful carnivores like Wolves and Pumas will be preying on Elk............Cause-specific mortality analyses showed that wolves and all carnivore species combined had additive effects on baseline elk mortality, but only reduced survival by 2%................ When human factors were included, 'total' adult mortality was solely related to harvest; the influence of native carnivores was compensatory........ Annual total mortality rates were lowest in populations sympatric with both pumas and wolves because managers reduced female harvest in areas with abundant or diverse carnivores............Bottom line is that if Game Managers effectively moderate human hunting of Elk, they will generally fare very well in a multi-carnivore natural system

Female elk survival across western North America

Journal of Applied Ecology

Volume 50, Issue 2, pages 295–305, April 2013

:Cause-specific mortality analyses showed that wolves and all carnivore species combined had additive effects on baseline elk mortality, but only reduced survival by ;2%. When human factors were included, 'total' adult mortality was solely related to harvest; the influence of native carnivores was compensatory.

 Well-informed management of harvested species requires understanding how changing ecological conditions affect demography and population dynamics, information that is lacking for many species. We have limited understanding of the relative influence of carnivores, harvest, weather and forage availability on elk Cervus elaphus demography, despite the ecological and economic importance of this species. We assessed adult female survival, a key vital rate for population dynamics, from 2746 radio-collared elk in 45 populations across western North America that experience wide variation in carnivore assemblage, harvest, weather and habitat conditions.

 Proportional hazard analysis revealed that 'baseline' (i.e. not related to human factors) mortality was higher with very high winter precipitation, particularly in populations sympatric with wolves Canis lupus. Mortality may increase via nutritional stress and heightened vulnerability to predation in snowy winters. Baseline mortality was unrelated to puma Puma concolor presence, forest cover or summer forage productivity.

 Cause-specific mortality analyses showed that wolves and all carnivore species combined had additive effects on baseline elk mortality, but only reduced survival by 2%.  When human factors were included, 'total' adult mortality was solely related to harvest; the influence of native carnivores was compensatory. Annual total mortality rates were lowest in populations sympatric with both pumas and wolves because managers reduced female harvest in areas with abundant or diverse carnivores.

 Mortality from native carnivores peaked in late winter and early spring, while harvest-induced mortality peaked in autumn. The strong peak in harvest-induced mortality during the autumn hunting season decreased as the number of native carnivore species increased.

  Elevated baseline adult female elk mortality from wolves in years with high winter precipitation could affect elk abundance as winters across the western US become drier and wolves recolonize portions of the region. In the absence of human harvest, wolves had additive, although limited, effects on mortality. However, human harvest, and its apparent use by managers to offset predation, primarily controls overall variation in adult female mortality. Altering harvest quotas is thus a strong tool for offsetting impacts of carnivore recolonization and shifting weather patterns on elk across western North America.

I know that biologist John Laundre is shaking his head as he reads this article...........As he will tell you,,,,,,If you keep shooting Pumas into oblivion, eventually, fewer and fewer Cats there will be...................Is the South Dakota Game Commission that clueless that they put on a straight face and boldly tell us that there will not be 100 Pumas killed when the hunt closes down next week..................Guys, you are killing them faster than they can reproduce..............Put a lid on it!!!!!!

Mountain lion totals may fall short of season limit

blackhillsfox.com

There's one week left in the 2013 South Dakota mountain lion hunting season.  It's looking more  and more as if hunters will get nowhere near the total season limit of 100 lions  specified by the  state Game, Fish and Parks Commission. Right now, the number of lions killed this season stands at fifty five. With only seven days left, hunters would have to bring down more than six big cats a day to reach the 100 lion limit. GF&P big game  biologist John Kanta says that won't happen. Kanta says, "Yeah. With only a week left in the season,  I don't believe that we'll make the limit of one hundred lions. Nor do  I think we'll even harvest  as many as we did last year." This would be the first time since mountain lion hunting was  re-introduced in 2005 that hunters failed to bring in the limit before the end of the mountain lion  hunting season. -Al Van Zee

As we have been following the plight of the Wolves on Isle Royale, Michigan, we know that have been struggling for years with inbreeding and may now be unwilling or unable to mate, said John Vucetich, who leads the world's longest study of predators and prey in a single ecosystem.........Scientists who visited the island found no evidence that pups were born during the past year – the first time the wolves have failed to produce offspring since biologists began monitoring their reproduction in 1971.............While their are female Wolves among the 8 remaining, "Next year will be very telling," Vucetich said in a telephone interview. "If they don't reproduce two years in a row ... it would seem the end is imminent."

APNewsBreak: No pups born to Isle Royale wolves

By John Flesher, Associated Press;ksl.com

e

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - The gray wolves in Isle Royale National Park in northern Michigan are increasingly threatened, scientists said Monday, with no pups spotted during the past year and concern growing that the animals may have stopped reproducing.

The wolves have long been a symbol of the wilderness character of the island chain, one of the least-visited national parks because of its remote location in western Lake Superior.

Only eight remain, down from 24 just five years ago, according to a summary of a Michigan Technological University study obtained Monday by The Associated Press before the full report's public release. There were nine wolves last year, and scientists said the entire population could die out soon if the animals don't reproduce. Wolves usually live only four to five years.

The report comes as the gray wolf population elsewhere in the Great Lakes region has recovered enough for the animals to be taken off the federal endangered list and hunting allowed. Hunters and trappers in Minnesota and Wisconsin killed 530 wolves combined last winter, and Michigan could allow a hunt this fall.

The wolves on Isle Royale, however, have been struggling for years with inbreeding and may now be unwilling or unable to mate, said John Vucetich, who leads what the university and the National Park Service say is the world's longest study of predators and prey in a single ecosystem. University scientists who visited the island found no evidence that pups were born during the past year – the first time the wolves have failed to produce offspring since biologists began monitoring their reproduction in 1971.

Wolves that are healthy will attack and prey on Moose

"Next year will be very telling," Vucetich said in a telephone interview. "If they don't reproduce two years in a row ... it would seem the end is imminent."

Inbreeding has been the wolves' biggest problem, causing spinal malformation, among other physical abnormalities, said Rolf Peterson, another researcher. It also could be making the wolves increasingly reluctant to mate.

"Most species have a strong taboo against inbreeding," Peterson said.

But disease and a lack of food also could be contributing to the wolves' decline, Vucetich and Peterson said. The wolves prey mostly on moose, whose population in the park fell to about 400 in 2007. Since then, they've rebounded – partly because so few wolves have been around to attack them – and now total about 975.

As the threat of wolf extinction grows, park officials are grappling with whether to intervene or let nature take its course. Managers could bring wolves from the mainland to breed with those struggling on the island. Another possibility would be waiting to see if the existing wolves recover on their own. If they don't, the park could start over with a new group of transplants or simply let the island go without wolves, although that could allow moose to balloon and potentially strip the forests on the 45-mile-long archipelago.

"We've made no decisions at this point," said Phyllis Green, the park superintendent. "We need to approach this very thoughtfully before we start tinkering. ... We have to sort through what we can do and what we can learn through either taking action or taking no action."

Peterson said scientists observed what appeared to be "courtship behavior" within one of the packs this winter, raising hopes for another litter of pups next month. But without a fresh infusion of genes, the wolves' long-term prospects remain precarious.

Two panels of experts are studying the situation, one focusing on the wolves' genetic issues and the other on how climate change may affect wolves, moose and the broader environment. The park service expects to release a report with options for public comment this fall, Green said.

Scientists believe Isle Royale's first moose swam to the island from the Canadian mainland, about 15 miles away, in the early 20th century. They endured boom-and-bust cycles until a few wolves arrived around 1950, probably by wandering across an ice bridge. As the wolves' numbers grew, they formed packs and helped keep the moose in check.

The island is an ideal field laboratory to study interactions between a predator and prey. Because it's a federal wilderness area, human activities that would affect either species – especially hunting and trapping – are prohibited. There are no deer or other major prey animals that would complicate the food chain.

Peterson, Vucetich and other biologists collect bones and fit wolves with radio transmission collars in summer. For seven weeks each winter, they conduct aerial surveys.

The wolf population reached 50 in the early 1980s before a parvovirus outbreak reduced it to 12. But the hardy canines fought back, aided by the arrival around 1997 of a male from the mainland that reinvigorated the gene pool. Their numbers had averaged a couple dozen until the recent slump.

There are now just two small packs, each with three wolves, and two wandering loners.

Since being re-elected, President Obama has had a "loud voice" regarding Immigration Reform and Gay Marriage rights.................On arguably a larger issue that impacts all current American Citizens, clean air, clean water and biodiversity(the health of the land), barely a loud whisper has been heard from him...........Obama's land preservation and Parks record is the worst of any President, Democrat or Republican since 1960...............When it comes to making a case on behalf of the rest of creation besides man, not a peep is to be heard from the President..............Day in and day out, fringe groups yelling states rights and poking adverse holes in the Endangered Species Act-----Now the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is bowing to this pressure and discussing declaring Wolves across the USA to be federally delisted,,,,,,,,,doing a reverse course in their stated mission of recovering species where suitable habitat exists, regardless of whether a current population of a particular species exists currently...................This would be a disaster for Wolf restoration East of the Mississippi where scientifically identified and suitable Wolf habitat like the North Woods of New England and New York and the Southern Appalachians fanning out from the Smokey Mountains is just waiting for the howl of the Wolf to be heard once more...............Both of Obama's Secretary of the Interior choices have been anything but "Babbitt-like"(President Clinton's superior Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt)...............Mr. President, the National Enviro Organizations just do not have the firepower alone to stem the anti-wolf, anti carnivore reactionary fever that seems to becoming pandemic in nature..............We need you to be a Mariano Rivera(NY Yankee Great relief Pitcher) coming out of the bullpen in our 9th inning to shut down the subversives!

Western Environmentalists Oppose Wolf Delisting

 

By BEN NEARY Associated Press;abcnews.go.com

CHEYENNE, Wyo.

Western environmental groups say they're alarmed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is

 considering a plan to end federal protections for gray wolves in vast areas where the animals

 no longer exist.

The groups say ending federal protections would keep wolves from expanding their range 

back into states that could support them, including Colorado and California.

"As a matter of principal, I just think it's wrong," said Jay Tutchton, a Colorado lawyer with

 the group WildEarth Guardians.

Tutchton's group has sued over recent action to end federal protections for wolves in 

Wyoming. Wolves in most of the "Cowboy State" are classified as unprotected predators and

 scores have been killed since federal protections ended last fall.

"The Endangered Species Act was designed to protect species, including in places where they

 no longer reside," Tutchton said. "You were supposed to try to recover them, not throw in the towel."

The Fish and Wildlife Service could announce as soon as this spring whether it will propose a 

blanket delisting of wolves in most of the lower 48 states. Wolves in the Northern Rockies 

and around the Great Lakes, where reintroduced populations are well-established, are already off the Endangered Species List.

Chris Tollefson, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, DC, said 

Tuesday that the agency hasn't made any decision yet whether it will proposed the blanket

delisting. An agency report last year proposed dropping wolves from the endangered list in

 most areas where they're known not to live.

Even if the Fish and Wildlife Service ends federal protections, Tollefson said states would be

 free to cultivate their own wolf populations. "It's fair to say that there wouldn't be a 

prohibition, it would simply be left to the states to determine how to manage wolves in their

 boundaries," he said.

Tollefson said his agency regards the wolf recovery efforts in the Great Lakes states and 

Northern Rockies as enormous successes.

"Our view, and that of the biological community is that those populations are thriving and no

 longer require the protections of the Endangered Species Act," Tollefson said. "Obviously, 

we'll be discussing other areas as we move forward on that."

The prospect of the national delisting has prompted members of Congress on both sides of 

the issue to lobby the Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

Seventy-two members of Congress, most of the Republicans, signed the most recent letter to

 Ashe on Friday urging him to go through with the delisting. Another group of scores of 

congressmen wrote to Ashe earlier this month urging him to reject the delisting idea.

"Unmanaged wolves are devastating to livestock and indigenous wildlife," the members of 

Congress, led by Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and others, 

wrote to Ashe last week. "Currently state wildlife officials have their hands tied any time 

wolves are involved."

Lummis said Tuesday that the letter was intended to celebrate the successful recovery of 

wolves.

I know some will wring their hands over a delisting, but for the life of me I don't understand 

why they don't throw a party instead," Lummis stated. "In most suitable habitat, and in 

states that strongly objected to their presence initially, the wolf is here to stay. For some that

 is a bitter pill to swallow, for others it's not enough, but the bottom line is there are wolves 

where there once were none, and everyone but the most litigious among us seem ready to move on."

Bob Brister, wildlife campaign coordinator for the Utah Environmental Congress in Salt Lake

 City, has been campaigning to restore wolves to Utah, where he said they were extirpated in

 the 1930s.

Brister said the effect of delisting wolves in Utah and elsewhere where they currently don't

 exist would be to preclude their ultimate recovery back into their historic range. He noted 

that wolves are hunted heavily in the Wyoming, Utah and Montana and that states can't be

 counted on to provide the protections new populations would need to survive

"It's especially dire here in Utah, 

because we depend on wolves migrating from Wyoming and Idaho to restore wolves here in 

Utah," Brister said. "And when they're being hunted so intensely in Wyoming and Idaho, it 

greatly decreases the possibility of wolves migrating into Utah."

Erik Molvar executive director of the Bioldiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo., 

also noted that Wyoming, Idaho and Montana allow substantial wolf hunting. He said 

delisting wolves across the rest of the Lower 48, "would seem to be a very unwise move,

given the tenuous status of wolf populations in this area."

Molvar, whose group also is challenging the recent delisting of wolves in Wyoming, said it's

 clear there are other areas of the West that could support wolf populations.

"It certainly is true that there are places in Colorado, particularly Rocky Mountain National 

Park, where elk are so overpopulated that they're becoming a nuisance, that wolves are one

 of the few options to restore the natural balance," Molvar said.

Tutchton said his group and others are likely to fight the sweeping delisting effort.

"I'm very sure that if wolves were delisted in Colorado, we would want to sue. If wolves get 

delisted in Oklahoma, I don't know. That might be a different question," Tutchton said. 

"There are some places where wolves would be quite viable."

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 72 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS URGE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE TO DELIST THE GRAY WOLF FROM THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of 72 Members of Congress have written to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to urge that the Agency delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the Continental United States. The letter was spearheaded by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and John Barrasso (R-WY), and Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Doc Hastings (R-WA), Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

In the letter, the Members of Congress write that "[w]olves are not an endangered species and do not merit federal protections. The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State governments is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations."

The lawmakers added that an unmanaged wolf population poses a threat to the communities and surrounding livestock and indigenous wildlife, but that "currently State wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved." They add that State wildlife managers "need to be able to respond to the needs of their native wildlife without being burdened by the impediments of the federal bureaucracy created by the ESA."

In addition to Hatch and Barrasso, Senators signing the letter were Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mike Lee (R-UT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), James Risch (R-ID), John Thune (R-ND), and David Vitter (R-LA).

Members of the House signing the letter in addition to Lummis and Hastings were Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Dan Benishek (R-MI), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Kevin Brady (R-TX), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Howard Coble (R-NC), Tom Cole (R-OK), Mike Conaway (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Steven Daines (R-MT), Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Stephen Fincher (R-TN), Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Sam Graves (R-MO), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Bill Johnson (R-OH), Steve King (R-IA), John Kline (R-MN), Doug Lamalfa (R-CA), Bob Latta (R-OH), Blayne Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Kenny Marchant (R-TX), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Candice Miller (R-MI), Jeff Miller (R-FL), Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Alan Nunnelee (R-MS), Steve Palazzo (R-MS), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Mike Pompeo (R-KS), Jim Renacci (R-OH), Reid Ribble (R-WI), Dennis Ross (R-FL), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Steve Scalise (R-LA), David Schweikert (R-AZ), Austin Scott (R-GA), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Adrian Smith (R-NE), Steve Southerland (R-FL), Chris Stewart (R-UT), Steve Stivers (R-OH), Steve Stockman (R-TX), Marlin Stutzman (R-TX), Glenn Thompson (R-PA), Tim Walz (D-MN), Randy Weber (R-TX), Lynn Westmoreland (GA), Rob Wittman (R-VA), Don Young (R-AK).

The full text of the letter is below:

The Honorable Dan Ashe

Director

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

1849 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

Dear Director Ashe:

We understand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is in the process of reviewing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery status of the gray wolf in the lower 48 States and is preparing to announce the delisting of the species. We support the nationwide delisting of wolves and urge you to move as quickly as possible on making this a reality. We were supportive of the USFWS decision in 2009 when most wolves were delisted in the Northern Rocky Mountains, again in 2011 when wolves in the Great Lake States were delisted, and the 2012 delisting in Wyoming.  It is unfortunate that these decisions were met with lawsuits from environmental activists.

Wolves are not an endangered species and do not merit federal protections.  The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State governments is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations.

Unmanaged wolves are devastating to livestock and indigenous wildlife. Currently State wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved. They need to be able to respond to the needs of their native wildlife without being burdened by the impediments of the federal bureaucracy created by the ESA. During the four decades that wolves have had ESA protections, there has been an uncontrolled and unmanaged growth of wolf populations resulting in devastating impacts on hunting and ranching in America as well as tragic damages to historically strong and healthy herds of moose, elk, big horn sheep, and mule deer.

As you consider these much needed changes to federal protections with regard to the gray wolf, we urge you to expand the delisting of the species to all of the lower 48 states.  It is critical that the states be given the ability to properly manage all of the species within their boundaries.