SR-7, As Adopted by Senate, February 10, 2015

 

 

            Senator Casperson offered the following resolution:

            Senate Resolution No. 7.

            A resolution to support scientifically-based state management of gray wolves and to call for legislative action by the U.S. Congress and an appeal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in an effort to remove the Western Great Lakes gray wolf population from the endangered and threatened species list.

            Whereas, On December 19, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia returned the Western Great Lakes population of gray wolves to the federal endangered and threatened species list. This is the third time in the last decade that federal courts have disregarded the judgment of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists and overturned a delisting of the gray wolf in the Great Lakes regions; and

            Whereas, Based on objective scientific criteria, gray wolves have made a remarkable recovery from near extinction and are no longer endangered in Michigan. Michigan's gray wolf population exceeds by more than three times the number of wolves biologists consider necessary to maintain a healthy population and has grown steadily for more than a decade. Michigan's wolf population has met all federal recovery goals for delisting, both in terms of the number of wolves and the stability of those numbers; and

            Whereas, The extreme protection afforded gray wolves under the federal Endangered Species Act prevents sound management of this species in Michigan. Gray wolves increasingly endanger people and domestic animals as they encroach more and more on developed areas, and they also impact other wildlife. In 2014, deadly wolf attacks on livestock and dogs increased 75 percent in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As a result of the court's decision, Michigan's laws allowing citizens to protect their valuable livestock and dogs from wolves have been invalidated. The federal law was designed to bring back species from the brink of extinction, not manage the complicated interactions between people and an increasingly large and expanding predator population; and

            Whereas, Michigan is well-prepared to manage gray wolves. The state of Michigan has developed a scientifically-based management plan that will continue to maintain a healthy gray wolf population while allowing for more flexibility when conflicts between people and wolves arise. This plan will allow the state to meets its obligations under sections 51 and 52 of the Constitution of the State of Michigan of 1963 to protect the public health and natural resources in the interest of the general welfare of the people; and

            Whereas, Michigan cannot properly manage the gray wolf population until gray wolves are removed from the federal endangered and threatened species list in the Great Lakes region. The federal courts' continued interference infringes on this state's rights under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. District Court's ruling must be overturned or the fundamental flaws in the federal Endangered Species Act corrected so that science and reason can prevail; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate, That we support scientifically-based state management of gray wolves by the Michigan Natural Resources Commission and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources; and be it further

            Resolved, That to achieve that end, we support federal legislation to lift federal protections on the Western Great Lakes gray wolf population so they are no longer considered endangered, and we call on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to appeal the recent federal court ruling that returned gray wolves in the Great Lakes region to the federal endangered and threatened species list; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the members of the Michigan congressional delegation, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission, and the director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.