Wildlife and the Constitution: The Walls Come Tumbling Down

The federal law of wildlife has mushroomed during the past decade. Congress, in instances where certain species were suffering population crises, shed its historic reluctance to interfere with state wildlife management prerogatives. Opposition to federal intrusion has raised important constitutional issues, only some of which have been resolved definitively. Already the Congress and the courts have discarded some traditional assumptions about wildlife management, and the walls surrounding the traditional state prerogative to control resident wildlife are tumbling down.

The fundamental question involves the extent to which the United States government constitutionally can regulate human activities that affect fauna and flora. Other intertangled issues concern the proper allocation of regulatory jurisdiction between federal and state governments within the framework of the United States Constitution. This article explores these constitutional issues.