The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has denied a petition to delist the bears despite reports of recovered populations
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has reaffirmed the protected status of grizzly bears in the Lower 48 when it rejected petitions from Montana and Wyoming officials to remove the animals from the Endangered Species List in specific recovery zones.
This denial comes a day after the USFWS denied the Sportsmen’s Alliance petitions to delist wolves in the Western Great Lakes.
Idaho Capital Sun reports that the USFWS responded to the states in a document released Jan. 8 rejecting attempts to move the species under state management. In the document, the agency proposes managing grizzlies as a single population across Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington, as well as revisions of protective regulations for the species.
“This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting,” Martha Williams, a Montana resident and the USFWS director, said in a press release. “And the proposed changes to our … rule will provide management agencies and landowners more tools and flexibility to deal with human/bear conflicts, an essential part of grizzly bear recovery.”
The announcement was met with backlash from Montana’s and Idaho’s elected officials.
“By not delisting grizzly bears in the lower 48, the (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) is rejecting the fact that grizzlies have reached and exceeded recovery criteria years ago,” Idaho Gov. Brad Little said in a press release. “I’ve instructed the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and Office of Species Conservation to fully examine the proposed rule in an attempt to find the rationale behind the (service’s) decision, which seemingly disregards the science and the collective efforts of stakeholders that have led to the successful recovery and conservation of grizzly bears.”
Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, said this shows that the Endangered Species Act is broken.
“We have multiple populations of different species that have surpassed their recovery goals — and are thriving — yet they cannot be delisted, according to the service, because they have not fully recovered in other areas,” Jean said.