Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing titled, “Empowering State Management of Greater Sage Grouse.”  States have expressed frustration over the apparent reluctance of the Obama Administration to acknowledge the effectiveness of state-led species conservation, and its failure to coordinate with states and local governments.  Witnesses testified on the utility of state conservation strategies and how a federal endangered listing and rigid federal land management decisions could undermine these efforts.  

Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01) opened the hearing with a statement: 

“More than 40 years ago, the Endangered Species Act was enacted with good intentions and bipartisan support to recover species at the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, with less than two percent of the more than 1,500 listed species ever recovered, the law is failing.

“Cramming thousands more species onto the list and blocking the use of millions of acres of land—including restricting even how our military servicemen can use lands for military training and readiness – cannot be a measurement of success.  States are using resources wisely to recover species and keep them off the list.  We should do more to encourage them,” Bishop said.

Vice Chairman Cynthia Lummis (WY-At large) stated: 

“The Administration has finally admitted that the law needs more transparency, more state and local involvement, and less unproductive litigation. These are exactly the kind of improvements passed by this committee and the full House as part of H.R. 4315 in the last Congress. Yet this Administration has had a ‘just say no’ policy on ESA improvements for the last six years, including a veto threat of last year’s modest, common sense package.

“The Administration has spurned this committee’s efforts to improve the law, all while defending a deeply flawed system.  Simply trusting that the Administration will fix these problems on its own seems like allowing the fox to guard the hen house. As we review the Administration’s proposals in more detail in the days ahead, I hope these proposals are a sign that we can finally lose the scare tactics and have an open dialogue with the Administration on how to bring the ESA into the 21st Century,” Lummis said.

“Instead of helping cut through the red tape, federal agencies are focusing most of their effort on finding new ways to regulate human activity. As someone representing a state which has invested decades in sage-grouse conservation, the relentless efforts to force more standardized and irrelevant mandates on the use of the land not only threatens the conservation of the species, but unnecessarily imposes hardship on the hard-working citizens of the West,” said Kathleen Clarke, Utah Director of Public Lands. 

“The State of Idaho holds to the notion that local collaboration, local ideas, and local efforts garner the greatest results. We have a lot of pride in our state, and we are especially proud of our western heritage and abundant natural resources…but as you’ve heard, some of the recent top-down directives from Washington, D.C. have the potential to derail years of positive collaboration,” said Dustin Miller, Idaho Director of Species Conservation.

For more information on the hearing, including witness testimony, please visit the website.