Harriet Hageman: Endangered Species Act Used as a Zoning Tool

Reintroducing Grizzly Bear Management to Wyoming

• 🐻 Rep. Harriet Hageman discusses her bill HR281, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act, aimed at delisting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear population.
• 🎯 The GYE grizzly bear was listed as threatened in 1975, with recovery goals set by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
• ✅ The population has exceeded recovery goals for over two decades, with numbers now surpassing 1,000 bears.

Failures of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)

• 💡 Hageman argues that the ESA, while effective at listing species, has largely failed in delisting recovered populations, with only 3% of listed species ever being delisted.
• ⚖️ She contends that the ESA has become a "zoning mechanism" used by environmental groups to control land and water, rather than prioritizing species recovery.
• 📈 The Wyoming grizzly bear management plan, based on sound science, has been in place since 2002 and is ready for implementation by the state.

State Management vs. Federal Control

• 💰 Wyoming has invested over $1 million in grizzly recovery, significantly more than the federal Fish and Wildlife Service's contribution.
• ⚠️ The continued federal listing exacerbates issues from the growing bear population, including increased encounters, attacks on citizens, and depredation of livestock.
• 🚫 Previous administrations recognized the GYE grizzly bear's recovery and delisted it, but this was overturned by lawsuits from radical environmental organizations and activist judges.

Biden Administration's Role

• ❌ The Biden administration rejected Wyoming's petition to delist the grizzly bear, not due to insufficient recovery or management plans, but to link it to populations in other states.
• 🚩 This move is seen as an attempt to punish Wyoming for its success and use it as a "nursery" for bear populations in other states, which Hageman deems unfair and illegal.
• 🗣️ Hageman urges support for her bill to return management of the recovered grizzly bear population to the state of Wyoming.