David Thomas: “I will talk a moment about an issue that has been important to Wyoming and to the entire country. As in many cases, the…”

“I will talk a moment about an issue that has been important to Wyoming and to the entire country. As in many cases, the things we do here and the national laws we pass have different effects in different places. Wyoming, being a rather large State, a rural State, is 50 percent owned by the Federal Government. When we talk about endangered species, the program works much differently than it does in Delaware. There needs to be a certain amount of flexibility, as is the case with many things we do. I am for endangered species acts. It is proper we have programs that protect various endangered species, whether they be plants or animals. That should continue. However, we have been in this program now since about 1970 and there are, from our experience, changes we ought to consider. I am convinced this program needs some kind of change. Unfortunately, the results we have had are not the kind of results we intended. There has been a large amount of listing of endangered species but very little recovery. Of course, the purpose, the bottom line, is intended to protect special species and to recover them so they are self-supporting. We are hopeful we can strengthen the program to some degree so we can emphasize the recovery rather than simply the listing. The listing has an impact, particularly where there are interspersed private and public lands.”