WASHINGTON (February 26, 2016) – Today, the House passed an amendment to the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act that would reinstate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2011 delisting of the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act in Wyoming and the Great Lakes region. Due to frivolous litigation by radical environmental groups, FWS’s original delisting was overturned in the Federal Court on technicalities. Public Lands Council President Brenda Richards said the bipartisan amendment restores the justified decision to delist and return the wolf to the rightful state management of the species.

“The original Great Lakes and Wyoming delisting was supported by healthy populations and successful state management – conditions that exist for wolves throughout the country. While we are grateful that Congress is acting to remove this population segment from the ESA, we hope this leads to a broader effort to delist gray wolves nationwide. The time is right and this is a great opportunity to show that the Endangered Species Act can actually function the way it was intended.”