Page 11 - Wyoming's Grizzly Harvest - The Story the State Wants to Bury with the Bears

Wyoming’s Grizzly Harvest With what political capital losing almost half of the vote in the least populated state in the union gets you, Governor Mead has been busy spending it since his 2014 reelection. Mead quickly engaged the aid of Wyoming’s faithful Congressional delegation to bring a legislative fix to his wolf dilemma. The governor, weary of the law when he loses, but a pillar of justice when he gets his way, could have done the more honorable thing and let the process take its course. But that was could. On February 11, 2015 Wyoming Congresswoman, Cynthia Lummis, was the first to co- sponsor Representative Reid Ribble’s (R-WI) HR-884, introduced to have Congress legislatively strong-arm the Department of the Interior to remove ESA protections from wolves in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. A year on, and the House passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, which satisfies Mead’s agenda. As insurance, Wyoming Senator, John Barrasso, added an amendment to the Senate’s companion bill, the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2016, which specifies that upon passage Wyoming’s wolves will lose ESA protections. According to Barrasso, his amendment “protects that delisting from further judicial review,” or in other words, subverts the system and denies opponents due process. “This 11