Damaging anti-wildlife amendments (riders) that undermine Endangered Species Act (ESA) are still in play for the House FY 2019 Interior/EPA appropriations bill – H.R. 6147.

One provision goes as far as to remove protection for gray wolves nationwide.

Section 117 legislatively removes federal protections for all gray wolves in the lower 48 states except the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf.

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.