Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings released the following statement on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to delist the Gray Wolf from the endangered species list.

“The Service’s decision today to delist gray wolves only makes sense, and is long overdue.  This untangles the ridiculous situation in Washington, Oregon, and Utah, where wolves had been listed one side of a highway, and not on the other.  Private landowners, local governments and states should not be subjected to federal wolf listings when wolf populations are thriving, up as much as 300 percent in some areas, and will be managed much more effectively at the state level.  I will continue oversight of the Service’s closed-door ESA settlements with a few litigious groups, and the countless arbitrary deadlines for potentially hundreds of species listings and critical habitat designations over the next few years, most immediately, the Lesser Prairie Chicken, the Greater Sage Grouse, and dozens of others set to go into effect this year without sufficient state and local input,” said Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04).

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