Harriet Hageman

I appreciate your comment that you are eminently capable of making your own decisions. I think that is absolutely correct, and that is why we are here to make sure that you can.

I want to thank Ranking Member Leger Fernandez, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. LaMalfa, Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon, and Mr. Sablan for their support of H.R. 1246.

Today, we are meeting to consider two bills I've introduced to ensure all tribes have access to economic tools.

H.R. 1532 is quite simple and straightforward, and I would assume that our title insurance companies could read that and understand it.

Did you know in Wyoming, with a recovery goal of 100 wolves, we have over 350 Canadian gray wolves in Wyoming?

So, that would be considered an adequate regulatory mechanism, wouldn't it?

But when we are talking about the numbers under the Endangered Species Act, we are concerned about the number of live animals, right?

So, for example, in Wyoming with the Canadian gray wolf, if the population goes down below a certain level, there is an immediate stop to any further hunting.

I have never seen a recovery plan that does not include some kind of a backstop that would protect a recovered species.

That is all right. Thank you, Madam Chair.

And that is why today we are asking for additional management tools for both me and that sow grizzly bear, so we don't have to raise our babies together.

Delisting grizzlies would return management to the states--a concept supported in writing by the Governors of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

No one was surprised when grizzly bear conflicts thereafter increased, with dramatic and devastating impacts on our ranching communities in Wyoming and Montana shortly thereafter.

We ought to build on that.

Managing Wyoming's grizzly population is more effective to do at a local level, as is all species management.

My legislation, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act, H.R. 1245, would remove the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of grizzly bears from the Federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife.

In closing, grizzly bears met and greatly exceeded all federal and state population recovery goals 20 years ago.

Grizzly bears, by all objective scientific measures, have been fully-recovered from 'Threatened' status since 2003.

Mr. Servheen, you were questioned about one of the factors under the Endangered Species Act, and that factor being whether a recovery plan has an adequate regulatory mechanism for a particular species.

It is unfortunate that we even need to consider my legislation here today, but we have learned not to trust the courts to follow the Endangered Species Act.

And in Idaho, in Montana, they have over 1,000 Canadian gray wolves in each of those states.

So, those are the kinds of things that are in place with these recovery plans to ensure that the numbers don't go below what is required.

Gun Owners of America and Second Amendment Hunters publicly supported grizzly delisting over one year ago, applaud Congresswoman Hageman for introducing the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2023.

If Congresswoman Hageman's bill passes and returns management to the states, hunters in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho may eventually be used to manage grizzly populations using tightly controlled and carefully regulated hunting.

This bill will act as a legislative backstop to prevent going through this unnecessary litigation again.