Congress Holds Hearing on Bill to Delist Gray Wolves from Endangered Species Act

Today, the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee held a legislative hearing on H.R. 845, the Pet and Livestock Protection Act, sponsored by Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO-04) and co-led by Representative Tom Tiffany (R-WI-07).  This NRA-backed legislation would restore a 2020 Department of the Interior final rule to delist gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), so management activities may be determined by the affected states using the best available science.

In a tremendous victory for conservationists, President Trump’s first administration recognized the triumphant return of the gray wolf population to levels that no longer warrant the “threatened” or “endangered” designation under the ESA. After more than 45 years of recovery efforts, the gray wolf has greatly exceeded the conservation and scientific goals for recovery of the species, with over 6,000 wolves running wild in the lower 48 states.

However, despite the Biden Administration upholding President Trump’s actions, in 2022, an activist judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California caved to pressures from environmentalist activists to block the delisting of the species from the ESA. Of course, the net effect of all this is that, despite the science having proved the gray wolf population is stable and growing beyond expectations, these highly territorial apex predators have found their way into both agricultural and suburban communities, where livestock and pets have become easy prey. 

Representative Boebert’s Pet and Livestock Protection Act would build upon the success of the gray wolf’s ESA recovery and allow states and tribes to manage populations in ways that reflect the needs of their unique circumstances, while protecting the species from returning to early-1900s numbers. This legislation, previously titled H.R. 764, the Trust the Science Act, passed the House in a bipartisan fashion in 2024, but did not receive a vote in the Senate before the end of the session.

NRA-ILA has always argued that state agencies are better equipped to manage wolf populations than bureaucrats in the ivory towers of Washington, D.C., and will continue to advocate for the importance of hunting and trapping in conservation management plans both in Congress and federal courts. Likewise, we will keep NRA members updated on this important legislation as it makes its way through Congress.