I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4496
To provide for the reintroduction of the Eastern Timber Wolf in the Catskill
Mountains, New York, and to authorize the Secretary of the Interior
to acquire lands through the Bureau of Land Management to facilitate
that reintroduction.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 18, 2000
Mr. SIMPSON (for himself, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. WELDON of Penn-
sylvania, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. SALMON, Mr. PAS-
TOR, Mr. CANNON, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr.
HERGER, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. STUMP, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. HAYWORTH,
and Mr. WALDEN of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To provide for the reintroduction of the Eastern Timber
Wolf in the Catskill Mountains, New York, and to au-
thorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire lands
through the Bureau of Land Management to facilitate
that reintroduction.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting America’s
Wolves Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Throughout history, wolves have been mis-
understood and feared. Wolves have been subjected
to widespread persecution and targeted by large
scale predator eradication programs sponsored by
private, State, and Federal entities. The Endangered
Species Act of 1973 finally protected wolves as en-
dangered species, but by that time wolves had been
almost completely exterminated from the lower 48
States, except for a few hundred wolves that inhab-
ited extreme northeastern Minnesota.
(2) The subspecies commonly known as the
Eastern Timber Wolf (Canis lupus lycaon) once had
an extensive range covering most of the Eastern
United States, including the Catskill Mountains of
New York.
(3) Reintroduction of the Eastern Timber Wolf
into the State of New York would serve the public
interest, by—
(A) helping to ensure the survival of that
subspecies;
(B) enhancing the biological diversity of
the ecosystems of the State of New York and
bringing them into a more natural balance;
(C) beginning to redress some of the mis-
takes of the past, such as the Government-spon-
sored extermination of the Eastern Timber
Wolf; and
(D) enhancing our understanding of wolves
and of the environment.
(4) The public debate surrounding wolf reintro-
duction in the Northeastern United States would
foster a deeper understanding within the general
public about the complex interactions among species
in their natural environments.
SEC. 3. EASTERN TIMBER WOLF REINTRODUCTION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the
Interior shall prepare and publish a recovery plan for the
Eastern Timber Wolf in the Northeastern United States
under section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973
(16 U.S.C. 1533(f)), including a plan for releasing East-
ern Timber Wolves in the Catskill Mountain area of New
York under section 10(j) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1539(j)).
(b) PLAN CONTENTS.—The Plan shall include the
following:
(1) Goals for the biological recovery of the
Eastern Timber Wolf, including wolf population
goals that must be achieved as a condition for re-