Nothing quite symbolizes wilderness and wild country like a howling wolf.
Unfortunately, anti-wolf members of Congress are trying to extinguish this quintessential cry of the wild by ending federal wolf protections and turning wolf management over to states. Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called "Trust the Science Act." Sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), this bill requires the federal government to remove the gray wolf from federal protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and prohibits court intervention. The fight now moves to the U.S. Senate, where Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has introduced S.1895, a bill that would also end ESA protections and prohibit any future judicial review for gray wolves across the lower 48 states, even if their populations plummet. Please urge your senators to oppose this bill!
In spite of wolves still occupying only a small portion of their original range in the lower 48 states, S.1895 would grant states full management control of gray wolves. Tragically, we don’t need to wonder what state "management" of wolves looks like.
In Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, gray wolves lost ESA protection in 2011 owing to a wolf-killing rider that Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) attached to a must-pass federal budget bill. In these three states, trophy hunters and trappers have already slaughtered—and continue to slaughter—thousands of wolves by various brutal and unethical means, including deep within Wilderness areas and along the border of Yellowstone National Park. In April, Wilderness Watch and our allies filed a lawsuit seeking to restore ESA protections for wolves in these states.
For wolves outside these states, in late 2020, the Trump administration briefly stripped ESA protections for all gray wolves in the rest of the lower 48 states. During that time, trophy hunters and trappers in Wisconsin went on a wolf-killing rampage, killing at least 216 wolves—20 percent of Wisconsin’s entire wolf population—in less than 72 hours, including within various Wilderness areas. Hunters killed wolves at night with night vision technology and used dogs with GPS collars to track, chase, and corner wolves, which were then shot to death. If S.1895 passes, wolves would no longer find refuge or roam safely in places like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota; the Headwaters, Whisker Lake, and Blackjack Springs Wildernesses in Wisconsin; and the Sylvania and Big Island Lake Wildernesses in Michigan.
S.1895 is a direct threat to gray wolves across the lower 48 states, the integrity of the Endangered Species Act, and the wildness of our Wilderness areas.
Wilderness Watch has long worked to protect wolves. And you—our members and supporters—have been with us every step of the way. Now wolves need our help again. Please raise your voice to protect wolves and help keep our Wilderness areas wild! Write your senators and demand they oppose S.1895. |
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