State Rep. Parker Fairbairn on Wednesday spearheaded the House adoption of his resolution urging Congress to return control of wolf management back to the states. House Resolution 30 calls for support of a congressional measure that would restore governing authority over wolf management to state governments, an action supported by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

“The crux of this issue is the simple fact that officials based in Michigan are better suited to manage our natural resources than career bureaucrats in Washington D.C.,” said Fairbairn, R-Harbor Springs. “For years, we’ve seen wolf populations skyrocket while whitetail the deer population dwindles. Yet, some suits who live over 700 miles away have the audacity to tell us our wolves are endangered when that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Wolf management must be returned to the states, and Michigan must authorize a wolf hunt. Without it, our unique ecosystem and generations of hunting traditions are going to disappear right alongside our deer.”

Earlier this month, Fairbairn was joined by Gary Gorniak, Vice President of the Upper Peninsula Sportsmen’s Alliance, for committee testimony in support of the resolution.

“The wolf is part of the outdoors; I’ve got no problem with sharing that,” Gorniak said. “The problem right now is the wolf population is so great that it’s devastating everything else in between. I’ve got people in the U.P. calling me, telling me they’re tired of this wolf stuff. They’re tired of worrying about their kids or pets playing in their own backyards.”

Gorniak also serves as the President of the Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club President and vice chairman of the DNR East Citizen Advisory Council.

Last year, the Department of Natural Resources announced that the number of wolves in the Upper Peninsula had reached the highest point in two decades. The robust wolf population recently has contributed to an abnormal situation where whitetail deer have a massive overpopulation in the Lower Peninsula and a drastic underpopulation in the U.P.

“Without the ability to manage the grey wolf population in our own state, it is likely that numbers will continue to swell and wreak havoc on an already severely declining whitetail deer population in the Upper Peninsula, not to mention livestock and pets as well,” Fairbairn said during committee testimony. “Having exceeded population growth expectations, grey wolf management in the U.P. should be overseen at the state level by our own Department of Natural Resources.”

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