TRAVERSE CITY (AP) – A member of Congress is proposing legislation to remove federal protections of gray wolves across the lower 48 states.

Michigan Republican Candice Miller introduced the bill this week. It would turn over management of gray wolves to state wildlife agencies everywhere outside Alaska where they’re known to exist, including the western Great Lakes, the northern Rockies, the Pacific northwest and the southwest.

The Obama administration announced plans last week to drop about 5,500 wolves in the Great Lakes and northern Rockies from the endangered list, while reviewing the wolf’s status in other areas. Congress has already voted to lift protections from 1,300 wolves in the northern Rockies.

Miller says congressional action is needed because environmentalists’ lawsuits repeatedly have blocked regulators from keeping wolf numbers under control. 
  
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