URGENT: Action Needed for Wyoming Wolves NOW!

Wyoming Wolves Need Your Voice!

This week, the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a law removing wolves from Endangered Species Act protection in Idaho and Montana.   This prevents any environmental group from challenging the wolf management plans of these states in court. Even more alarming, it provides lawmakers with a road map that helps them to write laws that cannot be challenged in court.

In 2011, Wyoming House of Rep. Cynthia Lummis had tucked a similar “no judicial review” budget rider into the 2011 Interior Department Appropriations Bill.  If passed, it could have prohibited lawsuits against a pending agreement to remove Wyoming wolves from the endangered species list.  Fortunately, the Lummis rider was rejected in Dec. 2011.

Wyoming has been trying for years to remove its wolves from the federal endangered species list. But USFWS had rejected all of Wyoming’s previous wolf management plans, saying unregulated shooting in most of the state would reduce the state’s wolf population below federally required levels.  

Wyoming’s current wolf plan is the “kissing cousin” of Wyoming’s previously rejected plan.  So if USFWS approves the plan in its current form many believe it could be legally challenged. A decision is expected by September.

This sets the stage for Wyoming’s Congressional delegation to attempt, once again, to pass another “no judicial review” rider that would eliminate ESA protections for Wyoming wolves and prevent conservationists from challenging the legality and the science of the state’s wolf management plan.

Listen to this feed as Wyoming is gearing up for Wolf Hunting Season:

http://k2radio.com/wyoming-game-and-fish-one-step-closer-to-management-of-wolves-audio/

Therefore, we must let Congress know that we are aware of the Wyoming Congressional delegation’s intentions, and we will not tolerate any more riders that protect its inferior plan from being challenged in court if it is passed.

Please find your Congressional representatives by typing your address into this link, and then send them a short message or call them.  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Talking points are provided below. 

• The congressional budget bill rider that lifted ESA protections on wolves is “undemocratic” because it set a precedent for future political meddling with endangered wildlife.  Science should guide decision-making, not politics.

• We demand that Wyoming have a legally and biologically defensible plan instead of circumventing the rules with another Congressional rider that includes a “no judicial review” clause.

• Micromanagement by backroom deals and appropriation riders is not good government. We demand that US Fish and Wildlife Service and the governor come up with a plan that follows the law.