In a long-awaited decision issued Wednesday, the federal government denied petitions from Montana and Wyoming to delist grizzly bears, announcing that grizzlies are still threatened in the Lower 48 and will retain federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
As part of its announcement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it is taking a new and comprehensive approach to the species’ recovery by managing grizzlies in the West as a single distinct population segment. The USFWS says the proposed changes will also provide additional management flexibility for state agencies and individuals experiencing conflicts with grizzly bears.
“This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting,” USFWS Director Martha Williams said in a press release.
It also represents a seismic shift from the feds’ previous management strategy, which focused on rebuilding grizzly populations in six geographically distinct population segments. (The recent decision to reintroduce grizzly bears to the Northern Cascades in Washington State would establish a seventh distinct population.) The USFWS original grizzly bear recovery plan, created in 1993, revolved around these core recovery zones and set population goals that could serve as recovery benchmarks.
Looking at the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, for example, USFWS’ original recovery plan called for a sustainable population of 500 bears. There are now at least 727 grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, although recent estimates using updating modeling put that number closer to 1,000. The bears now occupy roughly 98 percent of suitable habitat within the GYE. Advocates for delisting say that, when taken together, these numbers serve as abundant proof that grizzlies have recovered there.
The USFWS’ new “metapopulation” approach, however, makes those arguments moot. It also aligns directly with a recent request made by Chris Servheen, the former grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the USFWS. During his time in the role, Servheen helped create the original grizzly bear recovery plan, which called for removing federal protections for grizzlies one distinct population at a time.
In December, however, Servheen said in a press conference that this original logic was flawed, and that Western grizzly bears should be managed not as island populations but as one, interconnected metapopulation that spans the Northern Rockies. This would require more connectivity between isolated populations, which Servheen said would enhance genetic diversity and put grizzlies on better footing in the long term.
“Grizzly bear populations are now geographically closer to each other than ever, and the Service has documented grizzly bear movement between some populations, indicating recovery zones are no longer discrete,” the USFWS explained in Wednesday’s announcement. “This increased movement of grizzly bears illustrates the success of conservation and management efforts to date while highlighting the importance of establishing and maintaining conservation measures and management practices that foster continued movement of bears.
The move has already riled many Western lawmakers, who have long petitioned the USFWS to delist their grizzly bear populations and return the species’ management to the states. The most recent petitions, filed by Wyoming and Montana, are based on the argument that their distinct grizzly populations have met or exceeded the federal criterion for delisting that were established in the Fed’s original recovery plan for the species.
Related: Montana’s New Grizzly Bear Plan Says It’s Ready to Take Back Management from the Feds
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte was quick to condemn the feds’ decision, chalking it up as a last-ditch political move by the outgoing Biden Administration.
“The full recovery of the grizzly bear across the Rocky Mountain region should be acknowledged and celebrated — period,” Gianforte said in an official statement. “It’s time for [the] U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to catch up with the science, follow the law, and return management of grizzlies to the states, where it belongs.”
Similarly, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said the decision was driven by politics and not biology. Last summer, Gordon sued the USFWS after the agency missed a deadline to respond to Wyoming’s original 2021 petition to delist grizzlies. A federal judge sided with Gordon in December, telling the agency it had until Jan. 20, which coincides with Inauguration Day, to issue a formal decision on delisting. The USFWS followed this directive, issuing its decision just 12 days before president-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Environmental groups are applauding the decision. These same groups have for years fought against delisting the bears, arguing that Western states like Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are unable to manage grizzlies responsibly.
The USFWS is welcoming public comment on the proposal over the next 60 days. And if the recent history around grizzly bears in the West is any indication, it will likely be challenged in the courts.
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“The science is clear: grizzly populations in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems have rebounded to healthy levels more than double their recovery target and should be delisted. Today’s decision penalizes conservation by holding the expansion of these populations against their delisting,” Brian Yablonski, CEO of the Property and Environment Research Center, said in an emailed statement to Outdoor Life. “The Endangered Species Act process is broken when it ignores science and punishes rather than rewards recovery.”
