On July 13, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives passed two anti-wolf amendments (riders) to the Interior Appropriations bill – the federal spending bill that funds the Department of the Interior, the EPA and the U.S. Forest Service. The anti-wolf provisions are among some 45 amendments, many of them intended to stymie endangered species listings, new regulations on oil and gas drilling and new attempts to protect federal land.

The Newhouse (R-WA) National Wolf Delisting Amendment will block all Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves (with the exception of the Mexican wolf) in the continental United States by 2017. While the return of gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes has been an incredible success story, this iconic American species still only occupies a small portion of its former range and wolves have only just started to re-enter areas like northern California, where there are large swaths of suitable habitat. By stripping federal protections from wolves nationwide, wolves in historically occupied areas like the southern Rockies and Northeast, may never be able to establish viable populations despite suitable habitat and availability of prey. A national delisting for wolves would reverse the incredible progress that the ESA has achieved for this species over the past few decades and once again put the gray wolf at risk of extirpation.

Pearce (R-NM) Mexican Gray Wolf Delisting Amendment will remove federal protections for the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf under the ESA even though a mere 97 remain in the wild. It will also limit recovery to the Mexican wolf’s “historic range,” a range that the supporters of this legislation interpret as “90% in Mexico.” Hunting, trapping, and poisoning caused the initial extinction of Mexican gray wolves in the wild. If passed into law, this amendment will force lobos to face extinction again, but this time at the hands of Congress.

Although the House of Representatives approved the Dept. of Interior’s 2017 with these wolf-delisting riders included, the budget has not been signed into law. Thus, we urge all our supporters to join us in reaching out to President Obama and our respective senators to voice our vehement objection to these anti-wolf amendments and to encourage them to remove them before it is sent to President Obama for signature into law!