Rep. Bob Wharff didn’t hide his anger about federal wildlife managers denying Wyoming authority over its grizzly bear population, despite meeting Endangered Species Act recovery goals for over 20 years.
The Republican representative from Evanston, who’s back in the Legislature after a one-term absence, went beyond “fist shaking” by bringing a bill that called for grizzly bear hunting as soon as 2026 — regardless of the species’ federal status.
“It’s me trying to get this body to stand up and poke [the federal government] right between the nose and kick them right in the groin,” Wharff told his fellow representatives on the floor of the Wyoming House. “I’m mad, and I hope it’s conveyed, because I do think [that] until this state stands up and says, ‘enough is enough, is enough, is enough,’ we’ll continue to see the goal posts move.”
Wharff’s hope for the bill was to “pressure” federal officials into “delisting” grizzlies. And his fury was exacerbated by an announcement, made in the waning days of the Biden administration, that federal officials were doing the opposite. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams decided that grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and throughout their Lower 48 range would remain protected under the Endangered Species Act, albeit with some changes in how they can be managed.
Others on the House floor told Wharff they shared his frustration. But many of the other representatives who took the lectern late on Tuesday didn’t agree with a bill that could result in Wyoming hunters being prosecuted for breaking federal law.
“We do expose our hunters if we do pass this,” Rep. Bob Davis, R-Baggs, said. “That would be up to the hunter, to take that exposure, if he wants to make this statement [by illegally killing a grizzly bear].”
Davis urged a no vote and so did Rep. John Eklund, R-Cheyenne.
“The first thing that the bill does that’s a real problem is it directs our Game and Fish Department to violate federal law,” the veteran representative said on the floor. “The hunters that were hunting grizzly bears would be violating federal law.”
Both Davis and Eklund also opposed Wharff’s measure, House Bill 186, “Bear coupons-game and fish,” when it was in committee, but they ended up on the losing side of the vote. House Bill 186 passed through the House Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee in a 5-4 vote despite ample concerns from Wyoming wildlife managers and resistance from every lobbyist who testified.
Randy Burtis, speaking for the Bow Hunters of Wyoming, told lawmakers he wanted to hunt a grizzly bear “more than anybody.”
“But I do not want to do that at the risk of federal prosecution, the loss of my security clearance and the loss of my job,” he testified. “This is just one of three bills coming forward that seek to dismantle the quality management of large carnivores.”
One of those three proposals, authorizing unlimited mountain lion killing, ran into overwhelming opposition and died Tuesday. That same day Wharff’s grizzly bear bill failed, as did a Senate measure to dictate state management.
Baggs Republican Sen. Larry Hicks’ Senate File 170, “Grizzly bear management prohibition” in essence would have prohibited the Wyoming Game and Fish Department from using its funds and resources to help with some aspects of managing grizzly bears unless the state is granted jurisdiction.
Angi Bruce, the state agency’s new director, worried about the unintended consequences.
“This bill would prevent us from grizzly bear population monitoring,” Bruce told the Senate Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee. Additionally, she said, the bill would prevent her large carnivore staffers from outreach and education designed to prevent grizzly bear conflict.
“Third and most importantly, I believe it would prevent us from working on the removal of the grizzly bear from the endangered species list,” Bruce said. “This is a priority for me personally.”
The “stars are aligned” for grizzly bear delisting, she said, citing new U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and grizzly delisting legislation from Wyoming’s senators and its representative in the new Congress.
After hearing wildlife managers’ concerns, Hicks voluntarily withdrew his bill.
Wharff’s proposal to hunt grizzlies in discord with the Endangered Species Act also fell flat Tuesday evening, dying in its first reading on the House floor, 26-32.
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