Activists seek to block Yellowstone grizzly bear delisting

Activists petition for four-state “metapopulation” of grizzly bears, but the same groups are seeking permanent federal protection for wolves, grizzlies and bison.

On Dec. 11, Earthjustice issued a press release proclaiming grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies are not recovered and the grizzly bear recovery plan should be revised in accordance with “A New Vision for Grizzly Recovery.” 

This “new vision” includes a map of “potential grizzly range with revised recovery plan” which encompasses much of western Wyoming. It’s not just national forests and national parks that would be included, as the southern extent of this envisioned grizzly range is about 30 miles north of Rock Springs.

Starting at the southeastern corner of Idaho where it meets northern Utah at Bear Lake, the map envisions potential future grizzly range in Wyoming to include not just all the communities of Star Valley and those in Sublette and Teton counties, but also encompasses LaBarge, Farson, Eden, Atlantic City and South Pass and eastward to encompass Boysen Reservoir, before jaunting north to cover everything to the Montana border. 

Fremont County’s Lander, Riverton, Hudson, Kinnear, Crowheart, Dubois, Fort Washakie, Ethete and Arapahoe would be included as well.

This is just Wyoming’s portion of the proposed four-state grizzly bear “metapopulation” which would be “managed as a single, interconnected population in the U.S. Northern Rockies” with its range extending across most of western Montana, central and northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. 

Recovery

The new vision and petition for a revised recovery plan were put forth by 14 activist organizations and are based on a proposal by former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Grizzly Recovery Coordinator Dr. Chris Servheen.

The petition says FWS “must revise its more than 30-year-old recovery plan and bring it up to date with current best available science” to align with Servheen’s proposal.

The 1993 recovery plan, which has been supplemented several times since its adoption, sets out requirements for grizzly bear recovery in each bear recovery zone – all of which have been met for the Yellowstone population. 

The plan envisioned the delisting of each grizzly population as it achieved recovery goals, and FWS has been trying to delist the Yellowstone grizzly population for the last 15 years. But each time it tries, the agency is sued by activist organizations, resulting in court orders mandating new issues the federal agency must examine before it can begin the process anew. 

Earlier this month, the state of Wyoming won a lawsuit resulting in a court order in which FWS must issue a final decision on delisting the Yellowstone grizzly population within 45 days.

This deadline falls on Jan. 20, 2025 – the day the presidential administration transitions from President Joe Biden to President Donald J. Trump. It’s also just a few months shy of the 50-year anniversary of grizzly bears being listed as a federally-protected species.

Revising recovery

The petition calls for abandoning the current approach of considering each grizzly bear ecosystem on its own in favor of a landscape-scale approach encompassing all five grizzly recovery ecosystems and the connecting habitats between them into one U.S. Northern Rockies population.

Servheen takes issue with changes in state laws in Montana and Idaho allowing for more wolf and black bear hunting and alleges, “The greatest threats today to grizzly bear recovery and to eventually achieving grizzly bear delisting are the state legislatures and governors who are passing legislation which implements harmful anti-predator policies that are not informed by science and the lack of effective management of private land development adjacent to grizzly bear habitat on public lands and the negative impacts of such development.”

For grizzlies to be recovered, states will need to reverse what he calls “regressive anti-carnivore policies,” by instituting regulatory mechanisms which would permanently eliminate all wolf trapping and neck snaring in all areas of the Northern U.S. Rockies except between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15, 2025 when most grizzlies are in dens; permanently eliminate all shooting of wolves and other carnivores at night using bait, artificial lights or night vision scopes in all areas in the Northern U.S. Rockies except between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15, 2025 and permanently eliminate all hound hunting of black bears in all portions of the Northern U.S. Rockies and prohibit sport hunting of grizzly bears in the Northern U.S. Rockies until this new vision of grizzly recovery is achieved.

Servheen proposes Yellowstone National Park’s model of closing areas either temporarily or permanently to human entry should be undertaken on national forests, and public land managers should impose a system to manage human use levels, timing and distribution in this metapopulation’s four-state landscape. 

It also proposes private land development should be treated as a threat to grizzly bears, and this should be used “to assist counties in their land management evaluation and decision processes” for regulating private lands.

The petitioners

Supporters of the petition for a revised recovery plan using Servheen’s proposal include Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, Western Watersheds Project, Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society of the U.S., Humane Society Legislative Fund, Endangered Species Coalition and a few other local or regional activist groups.

In a press release announcing the petition, Kristin Combs of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates was quoted as saying, “Those who are blind to the threats grizzly bears are facing will say the goalposts for recovery keep moving.” 

But, she defends moving the goalposts by indicating science has changed so the plan should change.

There are strong indications the petition for a new recovery plan is made in hopes delisting will never occur. The first indicator is the statement on Wyoming Wildlife Advocates’ website saying grizzly bears should be permanently protected.

The second indicator is some of the same groups petitioning for this new vision of grizzly recovery have also joined together to seek permanent federal protection for grizzly bears, gray wolves and bison as proposed in the Trinity Act sponsored by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). 

This proposal also includes provisions for permanent closure of livestock grazing allotments and prohibitions on lethal predator control on public lands. 

Western Watersheds Project supports the Booker proposal, as does the Sierra Club, Humane Society and the Endangered Species Coalition – whose member organizations also include Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, Wyoming Untrapped, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Wyoming Outdoor Council and Earthjustice.

Cat Urbigkit is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.