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Livestock associations are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to weigh in on whether Colorado Parks and Wildlife violated the federal Endangered Species Act when it imported wolves from Canada.
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife\/Courtesy Photo<\/p>\n
Livestock associations are questioning whether Colorado Parks and Wildlife violated the federal Endangered Species Act when it imported 15 gray wolves from Canada last year.<\/p>\n
The livestock associations signed two letters on Monday, requesting records from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service related to whether Colorado Parks and Wildlife had the approvals it needed to import the wolves.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecent statements from CPW indicate that \u2018all necessary procedures were followed\u2019 in conducting these activities,\u201d the livestock associations wrote in the letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever,\u201d the letter continues, \u201cgiven the cross-border nature of the import, the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora require specific federal authorizations that only the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is empowered to issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Public Information Officer Luke Perkins said the state worked with U.S. Fish and Wildlife to ensure that the reintroduction efforts complied with the Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cCPW has coordinated with USFWS throughout the gray wolf reintroduction effort and has complied with all applicable federal and state laws,\u201d Perkins said.<\/p>\n
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Sign up for the Sunrise Rundown at AspenTimes.com\/newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n The letters are signed by representatives of GNL Concepts LLC, Colorado Outfitters Association, Colorado Wool Growers Association, Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association, Southwest Colorado Livestock Association, Colorado Conservation Alliance, Colorado Mule Deer Association, and Colorado Independent Cattle Growers Association.<\/p>\n The letters focus on Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act, which states that it is unlawful for any person to import endangered species into, or export endangered species out of, the United States. The livestock associations claim that federal law would have required a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to import the wolves from Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cTherefore, state agencies such as CPW are explicitly bound by this prohibition and may not import endangered species without federal authorization,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n Gray wolves are not considered an endangered species<\/a> in the Northern Rocky Mountains, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Gray wolves are also not considered endangered or at risk<\/a> in Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cWith respect to sourcing gray wolves from western Canada, it\u2019s important to remember that, like gray wolves in the delisted population in the Northern Rocky Mountains, gray wolves in Canada are not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cThe provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act does not apply to these unlisted populations.\u201d<\/p>\n The livestock associations\u2019 letter also claims that Colorado Parks and Wildlife violated its memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by importing wolves from another country and by importing a wolf from a depredating pack in Oregon.<\/p>\n The letter asks the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to confirm whether a valid federal permit has been issued to allow Colorado Parks and Wildlife to import gray wolves from Canada, clarify the legal standing of wolves imported from Canada, initiate \u201ccorrective action to ensure all future wolf relocations strictly comply\u201d with the Endangered Species Act, and amend or suspend its memorandum of agreement with Colorado Parks and Wildlife until it is in pull compliance.<\/p>\n \u201cIf no such import permits were issued by FWS, please confirm that fact in writing, including the legal rationale under which CPW or any other entity acted to import wolves into Colorado,\u201d one letter states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Livestock associations are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to weigh in on whether Colorado Parks and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-98051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}