2025 House Resolution 30

Whereas, Gray wolves were first classified as an endangered species by the federal government in a first of its kind list issued in 1967. Since this initial listing, gray wolves in Michigan and elsewhere have been federally protected under a variety of laws, including the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and

Whereas, Since its first listing, gray wolf populations across the United States - and especially in Michigan - have made a tremendous recovery and stand as a true success story of the Endangered Species Act. As of 2020, gray wolf populations across the United States have swelled to exceed six thousand animals. Accordingly, gray wolves were delisted by the United States Department of Interior that year, giving authority over population management back to the states. However, in 2022, a federal court overturned this delisting, reclassifying gray wolves as an endangered species in 44 states, including Michigan, effectively revoking states’ management authority over these animals; and

Whereas, Michigan’s thriving gray wolf population is evidence that federal protection for these animals through the Endangered Species Act listing is no longer necessary. In its 2024 winter wolf survey, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) estimated that there were, at a minimum, over seven-hundred and fifty gray wolves populating the Upper Peninsula, an increase of over a hundred from the DNR’s 2022 survey. The growing wolf population in the Upper Peninsula is estimated to be comprised of over one-hundred and fifty wolf packs and, per the DNR’s research, remains in equilibrium with available habitat. By continuing to benefit from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, which prohibits the killing of these predators unless they pose a direct and immediate threat, the gray wolf population may continue to swell and consequently wreak havoc on an already severely declining white-tail deer population in Michigan. Having exceeded expectations, the gray wolf’s recovery in Michigan should now be managed at the state level by the expertise of our DNR; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge the United States Congress to enact legislation that would reinstate the Department of Interior’s prior removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list, thus allowing gray wolf population management to be handled at the state level; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.