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, March 25, 2013 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04), Senator Orin Hatch (UT), Senator John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (WY) today, along with 68 other Members of Congress, sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Dan Ashe urging support for the delisting of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in all lower 48 states.

The USFWS delisted the wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains in 2009 and in the Great Lake States in 2011. The current situation has created a confusing management and regulatory scheme that has left some states – including Washington, Oregon and Utah – in the weird situation of having wolves listed on one side of a highway and delisted on the other.

“Wolves can’t read maps, and people and property deserve better than the federal government’s current, perverse wolf management under ESA,” said Chairman Doc Hastings.

“Wolves are not endangered species and do not merit federal protections. The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State government is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations,” wrote the Members in the letter.

Click here to read the full letter.