BILL REQ. #:  S-1092.1 

Read first time 02/03/11.   Referred to Committee on Natural Resources & Marine Waters.

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The federal government first declared the gray wolf, Canis lupus, endangered in 1974 and it remains protected under the federal endangered species act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.; and
     WHEREAS, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, within the United States Department of the Interior, is the agency with primary responsibility for managing the gray wolf and other endangered species; and
     WHEREAS, The northern Rocky Mountain distinct population segment of gray wolves includes the eastern one-third of Washington and Oregon, a small part of north central Utah, and all of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming; and
     WHEREAS, The northern Rocky Mountain distinct population segment exceeded the federal recovery level of thirty or more breeding pairs in 2002, and now contains at least 1,700 wolves and approximately 115 breeding pairs; and
     WHEREAS, A primary purpose of the federal endangered species act is to "provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth in subsection (a) of this section."; and
     WHEREAS, The primary purpose of the federal endangered species act has clearly been achieved for the northern Rocky Mountain distinct population segment and gray wolves have recovered in this region; and
     WHEREAS, A lack of delisting, given the species has met recovery goals, can result in an erosion of public acceptance of wolves and the federal endangered species act; and
     WHEREAS, The overall aim of the federal endangered species act is to recover species such as that the species can be managed by the appropriate entity. The Washington state department of fish and wildlife and other state wildlife management agencies in the region are the appropriate authorities to manage the gray wolf as a resident species;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the federal government, through legislative or administrative means, immediately delist gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountain distinct population segment from the federal endangered species act, and that gray wolf management authority be turned over to Washington and the other respective states.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.