States need to have a larger role in implementing the Endangered Species Act, three heads of state wildlife agencies told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at a hearing today.

 

“State fish and wildlife directors generally believe the ESA is not performing as it should and is not sufficiently leveraging state agency expertise and cooperation,” Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, told the EPW committee.

 

He was joined by Larry Voyles, director of the Arizona Game and Fish Department and a former AFWA president, and Janet Coit, director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

 

EPW Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., kicked off the hearing, the second on the ESA for the committee in this session of Congress, by saying states are well equipped to take on more responsibility under the landmark 1973 law, administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service.

 

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