Sign up for theCapitolizednewsletter and stay up-to-date on the latest legislative developments during the session. The Biden-Harris administration today announced that the Department of the Interiors U.S. He then went on to sign Browns bill and a half dozen other measures targeting the states most iconic predator. In October, President Joe Biden announced he was nominating her to take the agencys top post, which oversees 567 national wildlife refuges and about 8,000 employees. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Fish and Wildlife Service,the former director of Montanas state wildlife agencypledged adherence to the law, science and collaboration during a Wednesday committee hearing. MW: I cant comment on the litigation specifically, but I do wonder about the underlying concerns about the litigation. FWP dealt with a number of difficult and often contentious issues during her tenure grizzly bear management, the introduction of aquatic invasive species, and the spread of chronic wasting disease, to name a few. Martha has been serving as Principal Deputy Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service since January 20, 2021, exercising the delegable authority of the Director. For Hawkaluk, the trajectory of wolves within Montanas bureaucracy reflects the contentious politics that surrounds the animals. Steve Bullock, a post she held from 2017 to 2020. Paulette M. "Pidge" Williams, 78, passed away due to natural causes at Northern Montana Hospital on Sunday, May 16, 2021. Williamss review is probing the conduct, regulations, and science of a department she once led and shaped, in a state she still calls home. Across a decade and half of service, Williams earned respect on both sides of the wolf wars and helped craft a legal framework for protecting the states most political animal. Now a top federal official, Williamss supporters are pulling her in divergent directions, while critics are questioning her credentials and calling on her to step down entirely. Montanas wolf season was over by that point. From 1988-2011, Williams was agency legal counsel for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, where she advised and represented the department on real estate transactions, Endangered Species Act policy and litigation, and on state and national environmental policy acts. When Williams appeared before lawmakers in November, the issue never came up. While the presence of wolves has been a battle in the Wests culture war for generations, the fight has taken on an intensity unlike anything the region has seen since the animals were first reintroduced therein the 1990s.
