UNITED STATES — Federal protections for northern Rocky Mountain grizzly bears may be on their way out.
This morning, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it had completed the initial review of three petitions filed to remove the grizzly bear in the lower 48 States from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in certain ecosystems.
“The Service finds two of these petitions present substantial information indicating the grizzly bear in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) may qualify as their own distinct population segment and may warrant removal from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife,” said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Friday.
The move would return management back to the states in the GYE and NCDE.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added that Montana, Idaho and Wyoming state governors have provided “substantial” information indicating that GYE and NCDE grizzlies have recovered from the threat of extinction since they were placed on the Endangered Species List in 1975. If grizzlies lose federal protections, it would open the door to future hunting in several states, including Wyoming.
According to the Associated Press (AP), as many as 50,000 grizzlies once roamed the western half of the U.S.
“They were exterminated in most of the country early last century by overhunting and trapping, and the last hunts in the northern Rockies occurred decades ago,” said the AP. “There are now more than 2,000 bears in the Lower 48 states and much larger populations in Alaska, where hunting is allowed.”
In 2017, GYE grizzlies lost federal protections, but a judge restored them in 2018 before Wyoming and Idaho were set to allow the animal to be hunted.
The next steps in delisting include an in-depth status review and analyses using the “best available science and information” to arrive at a 12-month finding on whether the removal of ESA protections for grizzly bears in the NCDE and GYE is warranted. If so, removing ESA protections would then be initiated through a separate rulemaking process, with additional public notice and comment.
The public can read further about the status review here.
