Ranchers support removing Endangered Species Act protections for Mexican wolves
Tom Peterson with the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association says taxpayers are “unfortunate casualties” of this overlay now that the Mexican wolf population is stable under ESA guidelines.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would remove Mexican wolves from the Endangered Species Act. Industry groups are backing the bill, with one expert saying federal restrictions have created major challenges for livestock producers.
“For the last 25 years, my neighbors and I have seen the worst kind of impacts from a federal policy,” said Tom Paterson, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. “Here is the Endangered Species Act that treats local people as acceptable sacrifices for a national initiative to recover an apex predator for two and a half decades.”
Peterson says this outlay comes despite the Mexican wolf population being stable enough that it should no longer be a protected species.
“We have been unfortunate and unacceptable casualties in this,” Peterson said. “This is a story to recover Mexican wolves. Taxpayers have shared our misery. Mexican wolf recovery has cost taxpayers nearly $260,000 for each wolf now on the ground. That’s more than a quarter of a million dollars. Each recovery cost taxpayers more than $15 million over the past three years alone.”
The number of wolves now on the ground meets the number identified in the ESA recovery plan.
Lawmakers and ag industry groups welcomed the confirmations, citing the direct impact of these leaders on western ranchers, water and land management, conservation programs, and regulatory reform.
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Year-round sales of E-15 are another major topic on Capitol Hill, which, according to Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE), is one issue up for debate this session with significant bipartisan support.
