House panel OKs grizzly bear, vulture, lead ammo bills

A pair of contentious bills won bipartisan support in the Natural Resources Committee.

July 15, 2025

The House Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday advanced a slate of bills, including to delist the Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear, allow the killing of black vultures and limit restrictions on lead ammunition and tackle.

The Republican-controlled panel approved Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman’s H.R. 281, the “Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2025,” 20-19 along party lines.

The legislation would require the Interior Department to reinstate a 2017 rule delisting the bear. The grizzly’s status under the Endangered Species Act has long been a tug-of-war between Western states and conservationists.

The first Trump administration delisted the grizzly, but was subsequently overruled by the courts. The Biden administration then upheld the bear’s status as a threatened species, allowing killing or capture — known as take — in limited circumstances but otherwise keeping them protected.

“The grizzly bear has been recovered for going on 30 years,” Hageman said at the markup. She said that keeping the bear "listed under the ESA is not only a violation of the letter and spirit of the ESA, but has allowed the Fish and Wildlife Service to implement bad policy and horrible management decisions.”

Democrats, however, pushed back on Hageman’s bill, arguing the proposal would jeopardize the recovery of the grizzly bear.

“Some states have not demonstrated a credible commitment to continuing the conservation of the species,” said committee ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). “Reinstating the outdated 2017 delisting rule could actually put the grizzly bear back on the road toward extinction, which none of us should want to see.”

Vulture debate

Republicans and Democrats also sparred over H.R. 2462, the “Black Vulture Relief Act,” a bipartisan bill from Reps. John Rose (R-Tenn.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.), which would allow livestock producers to kill or trap black vultures if they are posing a threat to their livestock.

The birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but a permit process currently exists allowing for limited take of black vultures.

“I understand the legitimate concerns of livestock producers about black vulture predation, we support giving farmers the tools they need to protect their livestock,” Huffman said. “[But] we have done that.”

Republicans, however, argue that the current permit process is not flexible enough to address the black vulture predation problem.

“[The bill] provides livestock producers with the ability to take vultures where and when it makes sense,” said committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.). “The existing permit program that allows a farmer or rancher to take 10 black vultures per year. That is simply not enough.”

The panel approved the bill 22-18, with Soto joining Republicans.

Lead ammo

The committee also approved Virginia Republican Rep. Robert Wittman’s H.R. 556, the “Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act," by a 23-17 vote.

The bill would prevent the Agriculture Department from prohibiting the use of lead ammunition or tackle on certain federal lands. Two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Adam Gray of California, joined Republicans in voting for it.

The Biden administration sought to prohibit the use of lead ammo and tackle in eight national wildlife refuges, due to its toxicity and potential damage to the environment. Republicans have argued the rule is too far reaching and needs to be specific to certain areas.

“I’m amused at people that talk about they’re the advocates for science, yet they wouldn’t know science if they tripped over it,” Wittman said in defense of his bill. “This bill is simply about this, it’s about collecting data before we make decisions that affect sportsmen.

“Let’s gather the information, and when the information indicates that on these sites, I have no problem with saying we shouldn’t allow the use of lead tackle or lead ammunition,” Wittman said.

“But carte blanche bans, looking past that, saying we don’t have any data we’re just gonna go ahead and shut things down, and being lectured to by people that haven’t got a shred of experience in the realm of science … is frustrating.”

Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), a physician, shot back at Wittman, arguing that the science on lead was clear even if the exact science on how it impacts wildlife is not.

“As a scientist and a physician who has taken care of people, I do believe I am appropriately capable of speaking to this,” Dexter said. “I’m a firm 'no' on this bill because you’re correct, the science may not be readily available in each area, but the science is very clear on lead, period.

“Lead poisoning happens, it concentrates up the food chain, it has detrimental impacts,” Dexter said.


By:  Garrett Downs
Source: Politico Pro