Rep. Melanie Stansbury Opposes GOP Proposal to Delist Gray Wolves

Opposition to Delisting Gray Wolves

• 📌 Representative Melanie Stansbury emphatically opposes the GOP proposal to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list.
• 💡 The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has provided decades of protection for threatened and endangered species, serving as both a scientific and ecological imperative.
• ⚠️ While acknowledging that Mexican gray wolves (lobos) can pose challenges for ranchers and farmers, Stansbury highlights that the current wild population is only 286 total animals in Arizona and New Mexico.
• 🌱 These wolves were considered extinct by the mid-1970s and have since played a growing keystone role in ecosystem restoration, with populations still far from recovered.
• 🤝 Stansbury expresses solidarity with ranchers and supports efforts to make them whole when livestock depredation occurs, co-sponsoring the Wolf Act to address this.

Opposition to Defending Our Dams Act

• 🏞️ Stansbury also humbly but emphatically opposes HR 2073, the Defending Our Dams Act.
• 🌊 As a water resources manager, she emphasizes the importance of restoring Western rivers for their ecological and cultural significance.
• ⚖️ She notes decades of litigation concerning the Lower Snake River dams, which have impacted salmon fisheries and tribal treaty responsibilities.
• ✅ The bill's passage would be crucial for compliance with federal law and tribal trust responsibilities.