Westerners have sought for decades to have the grizzly bear removed from the federal endangered-species list, but it won’t happen under the Biden administration.
The Fish and Wildlife Service rejected Wednesday petitions by Montana and Wyoming to delist the apex predators, spurring howls of protest from Western lawmakers and ranchers who accused the agency of moving the goalposts on grizzly recovery.
“The only reasonable announcement by the USFWS today would have been a total delisting of the grizzly bear in these ecosystems,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, Arkansas Republican and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “USFWS is blatantly ignoring science in their decision by hiding behind bureaucratic red tape.”
The service instead rearranged its method for classifying the bears. It proposed a regulation that would replace the six grizzly recovery zones in the lower 48 states with a single distinct population segment encompassing areas in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington.
The bears’ status remains unaffected. Grizzlies located within this new single DPS would still be listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened, as they have been since 1975.
“This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting,” said USFWS director Martha Williams in a statement.
Sen. Steve Daines, Montana Republican, decried the agency’s decision, noting that the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s recovery goal of 500 bears was met in 2003.
“Today’s announcement is incredibly frustrating for Montana,” Mr. Daines said. “For decades, Montana has followed the science and as a result, the bear has more than recovered in the Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems.”
The Forest Service declared the bears recovered and delisted them in 2007 and 2017, but in both cases, federal judges reversed the orders and restored the species’ threatened status in response to lawsuits filed by environmental groups.
In 2023, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem bears numbered 1,030, while those in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem reached 1,163, according to Mr. Daines’ office, increasing the danger for local communities and livestock herds as the grizzlies’ territory expands.
“Continuing to move the goalposts on recovery is only harming the bear and putting our Montanan communities at risk,” Mr. Daines said. “This is a shameful partisan play, and I’ll be pushing back every step of the way.”
The proposed regulation also gives more latitude to government agencies and property owners grappling with problem bears, including allowing ranchers to shoot grizzlies caught attacking livestock.
Mr. Westerman wasn’t impressed, saying that the “proposed management flexibility comes as too little, too late, and is a step that should have been taken long ago.”
Cheering the agency’s decision was the Center for Biological Diversity, one of many environmental groups that has opposed lifting the federal protections.
“I’m relieved that the Fish and Wildlife Service found that grizzly bears still need Endangered Species Act safeguards,” said Andrea Zaccardi, the center’s carnivore conservation program legal director. “With ongoing federal protections, grizzlies in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades will have a real chance at long-term recovery, instead of being gunned down and mounted on trophy walls.”
Removing the species’ threatened status would place state agencies in charge of managing the bears, a move that environmentalists predict would spur an open season on the grizzlies.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon disagreed, saying that local wildlife managers are better equipped to ensure the bears’ success.
“Our state wildlife managers are foremost experts on this bruin — they should be at the helm of decision making that impacts the daily lives of people in Wyoming who live and work in grizzly bear country,” the Republican chief executive said. “The authority to fully manage wildlife is within the state’s purview.”
The proposed rule is scheduled to be published shortly in the Federal Register, followed by a 60-day comment period, but the rulemaking may be short-lived.
Republicans said they plan to take up the issue with the new administration after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.
“I look forward to working with the Trump Administration, Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum, and Congressional leaders on delisting the GYE grizzly as well as on reforming the broken Endangered Species Act, which has lost its focus on species recovery and returning wildlife to state management,” Mr. Gordon said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.