Tag Archives: delisting

Montana seeks grizzly delisting

December 7, 2021Environmental Issues, Newsdelisting, Endangered Species List, grizzly bearsnfpa

Grizzly Bear - Montana FWP — Grizzly Bear – Montana FWP

Oh, cripes. He we go again. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte wants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the region’s grizzly bears from the endangered species list. Three articles are linked here, leading with one from Montana Free Press that seems the most complete . . .

Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office announced today that the state is petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, citing robust population counts and touting the state’s ability to independently manage Montana’s grizzly bears, which have been federally protected since 1975.

“We worked on grizzly bear recovery for decades. We were successful and switched to a focus on conflict management years ago,” FWP Director Hank Worsech said in a release about the petition, which seeks to remove federal protections for an estimated 1,100 grizzlies in western Montana. “We’ve shown the ability to manage bears, protect their habitat and population numbers. It’s time for us to have full authority for grizzly bears in Montana.”

Continue reading . . .

Also read:
Montana Seeks to End Protections for Glacier-area Grizzlies
Gianforte petitions for grizzly delisting

Grizzly delisting faces faces many challenges

September 6, 2018Environmental Issues, Newsbear hunt, delisting, Endangered Species Act, grizzly bear recovery, trophy huntingnfpa

Sow grizzly bear spotted near Camas in northwestern Montana. - Montana FWP — Sow grizzly bear spotted near Camas in northwestern Montana. – Montana FWP

The current court challenge to the Wyoming and Idaho grizzly hunt is only the tip of the iceberg . . .

While most stories about last week’s grizzly bear court hearing trumpeted the last-minute suspension of trophy hunts in Wyoming and Idaho, the lawsuit had nothing to do with the legality of grizzly hunting.

And while it did focus on whether grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem still need federal protection, the eventual decision will affect a far larger landscape. That points up a conundrum of the Endangered Species Act: It’s one challenge to recover a species, but quite another to delist it.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen didn’t render a decision from the bench on Thursday as many expected he might. But he did grant a 14-day restraining order blocking Wyoming and Idaho from starting their grizzly hunts on Saturday.

Grizzly delisting not a simple decision

November 11, 2017Environmental Issues, Newsdelisting, grizzly bear recovery, grizzly bear research, Northern Continental Divide Ecosystemnfpa

Grizzly bear recovery zones - US Fish and Wildlife Service — Grizzly bear recovery zones – US Fish and Wildlife Service

Here’s a good overview article from the Daily Inter Lake discussing the complexity of the upcoming decision on delisting grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem . . .

For four years, research ecologist Tabitha Graves has studied grizzly bears at the U.S. Geological Survey’s NOROCK West Glacier Field Station.

The hulking ursines bring more than tourists to Northwest Montana. “They have a pretty big role in this ecosystem,” she told the Daily Inter Lake. “We don’t often think about these kinds of details, but they disperse a lot of seeds, [and] they dig a lot,” helping circulate nutrients through the forest floor.

Understanding their benefits requires estimating the number of bears in the region – no easy task in a 16,000-square-mile “demographic monitoring area.” Graves and her colleagues add barbed wire to the tree trunks that bears rub along, then have the hair they collect DNA-sequenced, gaining a sense of which individual bears frequent which spots.

Read more . . .

Yellowstone grizzlies removed from threatened species list

August 1, 2017Environmental Issues, Newsdelisting, Endangered Species Act, grizzly bear recoverynfpa

Grizzly Bear - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Terry Tollefsbol, NPS — Grizzly Bear – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Terry Tollefsbol, NPS

Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were officially removed from the threatened species list on July 31. Of course, there’s the matter of dealing with a number of lawsuits . . .

For the second time in a decade, the U.S. government has removed grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region from the threatened species list.

It will be up to the courts again to decide whether they stay off the list.

The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove federal protections from the approximately 700 bears living across 19,000 square miles in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming took effect Monday.

Read more . . .

Also read: States taking over grizzly management Monday (Bozeman Daily Chronicle)

Yellowstone grizzlies to be taken off Endangered Species List

June 22, 2017Environmental Issues, Newsdelisting, Endangered Species List, greater Yellowstone ecosystem, grizzly bear recoverynfpa

The feds officially announced they are removing the Yellowstone ecosystem grizzlies from the Endangered Species List . . .

For the first time in more than four decades, the Yellowstone grizzly bear is set to lose its federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. Citing a rebound in the bear’s population, the U.S. Department of Interior announced its intention Thursday to end these protections and return oversight of the animal’s status to the state level.

The agency says the rule to remove the grizzly from the endangered species list will be published “in coming days” and “will take effect 30 days after publication.”

“This achievement stands as one of America’s great conservation successes; the culmination of decades of hard work and dedication on the part of the state, tribal, federal and private partners,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement. “As a Montanan, I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together.”

Read more . . .

Hilary Cooley is region’s new grizzly bear recovery coordinator

April 10, 2017Environmental Issues, Newsdelisting, grizzly bear recovery, grizzly bears, Hilary Cooley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicenfpa

Dr. Hilary Cooley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator - Jackson Hole News & Guide — Dr. Hilary Cooley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator – Jackson Hole News & Guide

They finally brought someone in to take Chris Servheen’s old job. Dr. Hilary Cooley is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s new grizzly bear recovery coordinator . . .

The federal official charged with leading the U.S. polar bear program has departed Alaska for Missoula, Montana, to oversee grizzly bear recovery in the Lower 48.

Hilary Cooley, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s new grizzly bear recovery coordinator, has stepped into the job vacated by 35-year veteran Chris Servheen. Cooley will have the opportunity to finish what Servheen started: seeing through the Endangered Species Act “delisting” process for Yellowstone-area grizzlies, which turns over jurisdiction from Fish and Wildlife to Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s grizzlies, she said, are ready to be managed by the states.

Read more . . .

Grizzly delisting inches through fed bureaucracy

April 10, 2017Environmental Issues, Newsdelisting, grizzly bears, Interagency Grizzly Bear Committeenfpa

Grizzly Bear - Thomas Lefebvre, via Unsplash — Grizzly Bear – Thomas Lefebvre, via Unsplash

The grizzly bear delisting process is making its way through the federal bureaucracy.

It’s a lot like watching paint dry . . .

The work of crafting a draft final rule to delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s grizzly bears is complete, and now the plans must navigate the many layers of federal bureaucracy.

The timeline for publishing the rule is unclear, in part because of the transition of presidential administrations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s own influx status, said Jodi Bush, the agency’s Montana Ecological Field Office supervisor.

“We’ve had all of our packages stopped in headquarters lately,” Bush said in an interview at the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee meeting held in Jackson last week. “They want to look at stuff. With the [recently protected] bumblebee it took an additional 39 days for them to get through it.”

Read more . . .

Scientists report continued expansion of US grizzly bear range

April 4, 2017Environmental Issues, Newsdelisting, grizzly bear research, wildlife habitatnfpa

Grizzly on ranch east of Yellowstone - Wyoming Game and Fish Department — Grizzly on ranch east of Yellowstone – Wyoming Game and Fish Department

This article really should have been longer; there’s a lot to think about here. Still, it’s worth reading . . .

Grizzly bears continue to expand their range amid an ongoing effort to turn over management of the bears from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, a federal official said.

“We’ve seen an 11 percent change in increasing range in just a couple of years,” Frank van Manen, head scientist of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, said last week at a meeting in Jackson.

Since coming under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, grizzlies have steadily expanded their habitat outward from the population’s core in Yellowstone National Park.

Read more . . .