S. 5519: Northern Great Lakes Wolf Recovery Act

This bill would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to revisit how it monitors gray wolves in the Northern Great Lakes region and then remove those wolves from the federal endangered species list.

What area is covered

The bill defines the Northern Great Lakes Region as:

• Minnesota
• Wisconsin
• The Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Main requirements

Within 1 year after enactment, the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would have to update the existing post-delisting monitoring plan for gray wolves in that region. The update must be done in consultation with a newly created advisory committee.

After the monitoring plan is updated, the Secretary of the Interior would be required to issue a rule removing the gray wolf population in the Northern Great Lakes Region from protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Advisory committee

The bill would require the Fish and Wildlife Service to create a new advisory committee within 30 days of enactment. The committee would include federal officials, tribal representatives, state agency leaders from the affected region, and other people with expertise in wolf biology, wolf management, and wolf predation.

This committee would advise the agency on:

• Updating the monitoring plan
• Issuing the delisting rule
• Monitoring wolves during the 5 years after delisting

Scope of the change

The bill says it would not change the status of any other gray wolf population outside the Northern Great Lakes Region. It is limited to the wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Relevant Companies

None found