National Cattlemen's Beef Association Happy With House Action on Gray Wolve ESA Delisting

Gray wolves have recently been voted off the endangered species list by the US House of Representatives, removing protections across the lower 48 states. Garrett Edmonds, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, has more details on what this policy change means for producers and wildlife managers.

"This is something that our producers know all too well, as for the last 12 years, going back and forth between Republicans and Democrats, both administrations have moved to delist the wolf and time and time again, what we've seen is environmental groups sue in court to get the ruling vacated, or, excuse me, the rule vacated to keep the wolf listed. A lot of this flies in the face of the sound science that's out there and produced by the Fish and Wildlife Service that the gray wolf has indeed recovered, and now is the time to return management to the states and give producers the flexibility they need to operate while also protecting themselves."

And as for work on the Senate side to pass the same type of legislation,

"But I can tell you, our producers are energized. They're ready to go out and build the coalitions necessary to to push this over the finish line. As most things go in the Senate, I highly doubt we would see something like this pass a standalone but is there a vehicle out there that it could

find its way into. We'll have to just wait and see."

NCBA's Garrett Edmonds.