Wolf Delisting Effort is at a Critical State in the U.S. House of Representatives...WE NEED YOUR HELP!
The letter below will give you information regarding the situation and exactly how you can help! It's easy to help!
Please take a moment to make the difference that only your effort can!
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!
Friends-
As many of you know, flaws in the Endangered Species Act make it almost impossible to remove species from the list and return their management to the individual states once their populations have met recovery goals. No other species besides the Gray Wolf is a better example of this. In Minnesota, this is especially true, with wolves having been at their targeted population levels since the 1970's. The population of Wolves in MN is greater than the rest of the lower 48 states combined!
There is a critical bill in the house, H.R. 1819, sponsored by Representative Candice Miller and Cosponsored by Minnesota’s own Rep. John Kline to remove wolves from listing under the Endangered Species Act and return wolves to state management. In its original form, this bill would fully remove the Gray Wolf, and all it’s subspecies, from the ESA and place its management in the hands of individual states. Unfortunately, new wolf language that has been included in the new interior appropriations bill has been weakened and fails to address important aspects of wolf delisting for Minnesota. The committee meeting to finalize the language of this bill is on July 12, 2011. We strongly support the inclusion of new language in this appropriations bill while also encouraging that it be amended in committee to provide for full delisting of all wolves in Minnesota, it’s going to take your support, through emails sent and calls made in the next three days.
We tend to think that as individuals we can’t influence public policy, but nothing is farther from the truth. While many of us complain about our elected officials, very few of us actually contact them. When gauging public opinion on issues, the standard formula is that each phone call received represents 10,000 voters and it takes as few as 2,000 emails received on a single issue in a week to make that issue the number one issue for that official’s office.
SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?
Congress is justifiably preoccupied with the budget right now. But, we need to make sure this issue doesn’t fall through the cracks.
The Congressman in charge of the committee that will finalize the language of this bill is Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho (T: 202-225-5531 F: 202-225-8216). We need each of you to contact Congressman Simpson’s office and let him know that:
I support the passage of immediate delisting of all wolves in Minnesota such as represented by H.R. 1819 in its original form. I strongly oppose any efforts that would: (1) delist only portions of the United States wolf population; (2) leave the door open to ongoing legal challenges by anti-grazing and anti-hunting groups that could further delay needed wolf control activities; (3) delist only some wolf populations within a state (such as Canis Lupus), while leaving endangered species act control over other wolf populations (such as Canis Lycaon); or (4) that would otherwise undermine the authority of state fish and game agencies to manage wolves or other wildlife populations.
This same message needs to be given to all of Minnesota’s Representatives and Senators.
If you want to email your Representative and Senators quickly and easily, you can go the Big Game Forever website and do so. Simply click on this link,
http://capwiz.com/biggameforever/home/, then enter your zip code. You will then have the option to email all of your Representative and Senators at the same time. Feel free to cut and paste, or you can write your own. Just make sure you reference bill H.R. 1819.
Better yet, pick up the phone and call. Make your voice the voice of 10,000 voters.
Senator Amy Klobuchar: (612) 727-5220/ (202) 224-3244
Senator Al Franken: (651) 221-1016/ (202) 224-5641
Rep. Tim Waltz: (507) 388-2149/ (202) 225-2472
Rep. Erik Paulsen: (952) 405-8510/ (202) 225-2871
Rep. Betty McCollum: (651) 224-9191/ (202) 225-6631
Rep. Keith Ellison: (612) 522-1212/ (202) 225-4755
Rep. Michele Bachmann: (651) 731-5400/ (202) 225-2331
Rep. Collin Peterson: (218) 847-5056/ (202) 225-2165
Rep. Chip Cravaack: (651) 237-8220/ (202) 225-6211