US wildlife officials aim to remove wolf protections in 2020

[Swordsmyth]

The Trump administration plans to lift endangered species protections for gray wolves across most of the nation by the end of the year, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday.

“We’re working hard to have this done by the end of the year and I’d say it’s very imminent,” Aurelia Skipwith told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday.

The administration also is pushing ahead with a rollback of protections for migratory birds despite a recent setback in federal court, she said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service last year proposed dropping the wolf from the endangered list in the lower 48 states, exempting a small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest. It was the latest of numerous attempts to return management authority to the states — moves that courts have repeatedly rejected after opponents filed lawsuits.

Shot, trapped and poisoned to near extinction in the last century, wolves in recent decades rebounded in the western Great Lakes region and portions of the West, the total population exceeding 6,000. They have been removed from the endangered list in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and portions of Oregon, Utah and Washington state.

Federal protections remain elsewhere.

Skipwith, echoing the Fish and Wildlife Service’s long-held policy, told the AP the wolf has “biologically recovered” and that its removal from the list would demonstrate the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act.

A final decision had been expected last spring, but the service is taking extra time to review the science behind its position and issues raised in court rulings, Skipwith said.

“We just want to be sure we’re covering all the bases,” she said. “When groups want to come in and sue because of such a success, it takes away resources from species that need them.”

She added that the agency doesn’t believe much suitable habitat remains beyond areas that wolves currently occupy, a claim that environmental groups and some biologists dispute.

“We don’t anticipate them expanding, regardless of that federal protection,” Skipwith said, declining to take a position on a November ballot initiative that would restore wolves to Colorado.

“If that’s the approach that Colorado wants to take, that’s their prerogative,” she said.

Skipwith said the agency also is proceeding with changes in how it enforces a century-old law protecting most American wild bird species, despite warnings that billions of birds could die as a result.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/us-wildlife-o...000307060.html

[PAF]

Huge news!

Any word yet on ending TSA? My offspring was directly affected just last week when over $1,500 was “inspected” and never put back into the luggage. Tax payers are picking up this bill.

[devil21]

Huge news!

Any word yet on ending TSA? My offspring was directly affected just last week when over $1,500 was “inspected” and never put back into the luggage. Tax payers are picking up this bill.

Seriously? TSA jacked $1500 from your kid's luggage?

That deserves it own GenPol thread if you haven't started one already.

[Swordsmyth]

Trump administration officials on Thursday stripped Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in most of the U.S., ending longstanding federal safeguards and putting states and tribes in charge of overseeing the predators.

The U.S. Department of Interior announcement just days ahead of the Nov. 3 election could lead to resumption of wolf hunts in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- a crucial battleground in the campaign between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

It's the latest in a series of administration actions on the environment that appeal to key blocs of rural voters in the race’s final days, including steps to allow more mining in Minnesota and logging in Alaska.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-off...175207052.html

[XNavyNuke]

From the report on CounterPunch

“The battle over wolf recovery is, unfortunately, both politically charged and partisan,” continued Larris. “For decades, ranchers have demonized wolves because they are an impediment to carefree, inexpensive grazing of private livestock on public lands. Finalizing delisting of wolves a few days before an election is a gift to the ranching and agricultural interests, plain and simple.”

Not to worry, the incoming Biden Administration will repeal this ruling and outlaw grazing of livestock on public lands in the first 100 days. Ranchers will be taught how to code alongside the miners and drillers who currently work public lands. There not much the Orange Man Administration can do to the wolves in the meantime.

XNN

[devil21]

Trump administration officials on Thursday stripped Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in most of the U.S., ending longstanding federal safeguards and putting states and tribes in charge of overseeing the predators.

The U.S. Department of Interior announcement just days ahead of the Nov. 3 election could lead to resumption of wolf hunts in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- a crucial battleground in the campaign between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

It's the latest in a series of administration actions on the environment that appeal to key blocs of rural voters in the race’s final days, including steps to allow more mining in Minnesota and logging in Alaska.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-off...175207052.html

At least the media finally reported what these kinds of "deregulations" are really about.

[Snowball]

Trump is the most anti-conservation wrecking ball ever, there is no comparison in history.

[Working Poor]

So I guess the wolves will have to go back doing what they used to do before the protection regulations.

[Swordsmyth]

At least the media finally reported what these kinds of "deregulations" are really about.

Trump is the most anti-conservation wrecking ball ever, there is no comparison in history.

Three cheers for Trump!

[XNavyNuke]

So I guess the wolves will have to go back doing what they used to do before the protection regulations.

Nobody gave a hoot in Hell when the process was started under the Obama Administration.

Congressional testimony given by the Department of Interior, April 2016
TESTIMONY OF DAN ASHE, DIRECTOR, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERIOR, REGARDING BARRIERS TO RECOVERY AND DELISTING OF LISTED SPECIES UNDER THE
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973
https://www.doi.gov/ocl/esa-delisting

Since the species was first listed, the gray wolf has rebounded from the brink of extinction to exceed population targets set for the WGL and NRM and continuing to expand their range into Washington and Oregon. In 2011, the Service determined that gray wolves were successfully recovered in the WGL and NRM states of Montana, Idaho, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and north central Utah and delisted those distinct population segments. In 2012, the Service delisted gray wolves in the state of Wyoming. In 2014, the final rules delisting gray wolves in Wyoming and in the WGL were vacated by district courts, and ESA protections were reinstated for these populations. The wolves maintain federal protections while those decisions are on appeal.

I expect AP and Reuters reporters to do exactly what they are told and never provide any context to their stories. Rarely am I disappointed.

XNN

[devil21]

So I guess the wolves will have to go back doing what they used to do before the protection regulations.

Uh wut?

Driving cars? Building houses? Paintball games?

[jkob]

The purpose of these protections is to allow their population to rebound not for them to be sacred cows, there is a disgusting amount of people that have a literal sexual attraction to wolves and other dogs in this country. Just wait until the "furries" become the next civil rights struggle after transgenders, them and pedosexuals. This allows the states to manage their own wildlife where they can still be protected if need be, where I live in Wisconsin there are a **** ton of wolves now and they are a nuisance on a number of levels and culling back the herd is what needs to be done.