Nov 9, 2023 - Members of the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert proposing to delist gray wolves from the the nation’s endangered species list.

A bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Silt, to expedite the sale of federal land in the Clifton area to Mesa County has advanced in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support.

In response to decisions that kept grey wolves listed as an endangered species by the Biden Administration, Congresswoman Boebert partnered with Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin to introduce the Trust The Science Act and delist the grey wolf as an endangered species. This would get the federal government out of the way of states taking action to allow ranchers and farmers to protect their livestock from being killed by grey wolves. This legislation was supported by a multitude of ranching and farming advocacy groups, including the Colorado Farm Bureau and the Colorado Livestock Association. While this bill would not immediately produce a fix to the problem in Colorado due to Proposition 114 and the state’s listing of the grey wolf, it has raised awareness of the issue and would remove the federal government as a roadblock to progress. This legislation passed the House both as a standalone bill and also as a provision included in the Interior Appropriations Bill.

Congresswoman Boebert worked directly with local stakeholders in Mesa County to craft this piece of legislation, which would allow the County to purchase 31 acres of BLM land at fair-market value in Clifton that could be used for economic development. After years of the County unsuccessfully trying to acquire the land, Congresswoman Boebert stepped up to produce a legislative solution to the problem. This bill passed the full House of Representatives as standalone legislation.