Endangered Species Act

House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R, AR-04) has introduced his America’s Wildlife Habitat Conservation Act. This bill would authorize $300 million annually for the next five years for state and tribal fish and wildlife agencies to accomplish the goals outlined in wildlife action plans. The bill would also make several positive amendments to the Endangered Species Act.

The Boone and Crockett Club welcomes today’s announcement by Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Aurelia Skipwith to return gray wolf management to state conservation authority. Wolves are a wildlife restoration success story, akin to the recovery and delisting of bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and numerous other species. The ultimate goal of the Endangered Species Act is to bring species back from the brink of extinction and stabilize populations so that management can move back to the states.

Over Easter weekend, a story played out in Dupuyer, Montana, when a sow grizzly bear protecting her cubs bit a hiker and had to be euthanized.

According to the Boone and Crockett Club, one of the most significant pieces of legislation in the history of wildlife conservation, now almost 50 years old, is undergoing much-needed steps toward modernization to improve efficiency.

Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, today signed new Endangered Species Act (ESA) rules that increase transparency, make it easier for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to work with the states and give landowners more opportunities to promote conservation for imperiled species.