Washington, D.C. – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell urging her to cancel a pending rule that would cancel endangered species status for most U.S. wolf populations. The letter is attached and the text is available below.

The rule was scheduled to be released this week but has not yet been published in the federal register. Grijalva calls on Jewell and the Interior Department not to release it and maintain full Endangered Species Act protections for wolf populations currently covered by the law.

“Today we stand at a crossroads for wolf recovery,” Grijalva writes. “Populations have grown substantially in the Great Lakes and the Northern Rockies. Individual wolves have dispersed into California, the Pacific Northwest, the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Northeast. Now is the time to support full wolf recovery, not shut down our efforts. With your leadership, our great country has a real opportunity to recover wolves on a national level[.]”

As USA Today reported in April, “If the rule is enacted, it would transfer control of wolves to state wildlife agencies by removing them from the federal list of endangered species. The government has been considering such a move since at least 2011, but previously held off given concerns among scientists and wildlife advocates who warn it could effectively halt the species’ expansion.”

Grijalva, the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulations, supports continued Endangered Species Act protections for wolves where scientifically appropriate throughout the country.

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Dear Secretary Jewell:

It is my understanding that the Department of Interior this week decided to withhold publication of a proposed rule that would have removed gray wolves outside the Southwest from the endangered species list. If true, this is welcome news and a wise decision. Such a rule would end federal recovery efforts for certain endangered wolves and cause irreparable harm.

Today we stand at a crossroads for wolf recovery. Populations have grown substantially in the Great Lakes and the Northern Rockies. Individual wolves have dispersed into California, the Pacific Northwest, the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Northeast. Now is the time to support full wolf recovery, not shut down our efforts. With your leadership, our great country has a real opportunity to recover wolves on a national level with vibrant populations in California, the Pacific Northwest, the Southern Rocky Mountains, and the Northeast, not just isolated, relic populations in the Great Lakes, Northern Rockies and the Southwest.

I strongly urge you and your Department to use this current pause to cancel the scientifically flawed delisting proposal developed by your predecessor and preserve opportunities for wolves to recover in additional parts of the United States.

The fate of wolves in the United States is in your hands. We urge you to work with all interested Americans to ensure conservation for the gray wolf across multiple ecosystems as required by the Endangered Species Act. Our mutual respect for America’s natural heritage demands nothing less.

Sincerely,

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva

Member of Congress