Yellowstone grizzlies lose protection as threatened species
The US Government lifted protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region yesterday, though it will be up to the courts to decide whether the icon of the West stays off the threatened species list.
More than a month after announcing that grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park are no longer threatened, the US Fish and Wildlife Service officially handed over management of the 700 bears living across 49,210 sq km in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to wildlife officials in those states.
The ruling does not apply to the 1000 bears living farther north in the Northern Continental Divide area that includes Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
State wildlife officials have been working for decades to protect the bears as their population grows and their range expands farther away from the oldest US national park, and they say they will continue to do so. Federal wildlife officials will also monitor the states for five years and re-impose protections if the population drops below 500 bears.
The bears were determined to be a threatened species in 1975 after hunting and trapping in the 1800s and early 1900s nearly wiped them out. The strict no-kill policy and habitat preservation that came with being on the threatened species list helped their numbers recover. Now, grizzlies can be hunted again under the management plans submitted by Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. None of the states will hold a hunting season this year, and wildlife officials say any hunts would be held only after examining the effects on the population.
Hunting grizzlies is strongly opposed by wildlife advocates and Native American tribes who worry the bears’ recovery will nosedive without US Government oversight. Multiple organisations have filed notice that they will sue to place grizzlies back on the threatened species list.