WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) completed initial reviews of two petitions to list gray wolves in the western United States under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). USFWS subsequently announced they would initiate a 12-month comprehensive status review of the gray wolf. Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04) and Vice Chair Bruce Westerman (AR-04) released the followi... Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional Western Caucus and Senate Western Caucus Members, led by Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Vice Chair Bruce Westerman (AR-04), and Senator Cynthia Lummis (WY), sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in response to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) recent announcement to initiate a review of land management plans for the greater sage... Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04) hosted a Special Order to discuss the successes and failures of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), highlight species recovery efforts across the country, and promote commonsense policies to modernize the landmark species protection law. Western Caucus Members spoke about the impacts of local ESA listings on local communities and emphasized the import... Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04) and Rep. Cliff Bentz (OR-02), Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, hosted a virtual forum titled, “The Impacts of a Weaponized Endangered Species Act: The Case of the Northern Spotted Owl,” to highlight the mismanagement of the Northern Spotted Owl in the Pacific Northwest. The forum featured thr... Read more »
Today, members of the Western Caucus released the following statements after Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced the delisting of the gray wolf in the lower 48 states. “Today is a great victory for science and professional wildlife management. The gray wolf is one of the few actual success stories of the Endangered Species Act and has met every scientific criteria for delisting. It... Read more »
Today, members of the Western Caucus released the following statements after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service announced their definition of "habitat" to be used for critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act. “If there is something that I hear most from stakeholder groups about federal government regulations, it is that they lack consiste... Read more »
Today, Members of the Western Caucus released the following statements after the introduction of a 17-bill legislative package to modernize the Endangered Species Act to better protect species, and to treat property owners, states and local stakeholders as partners rather than obstacles: "The Endangered Species was enacted with the best intentions, but it has failed to live up to its noble vision.... Read more »
Today, Members of the Western Caucus released statements applauding the U.S. Forest Service's amendments to overly restrictive and unclear sage-grouse land management plans created by the Obama administration. Read more »
Members of the Congressional Western Caucus released statements in response to House passage of H.R. 3055, legislation that attempts to fund the Commerce-Justice-Science, Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bills for fiscal year 2020 Read more »
