CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Wednesday that grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will remain federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a decision that has garnered criticism from lawmakers like Gov. Mark Gordon.
“The reality is that grizzly bears are increasing in population and expanding in range well beyond original recovery targets,” said Lesli Allison, chief executive officer of the Western Landowners Alliance. “While grizzly bear recovery is widely celebrated as a success, the moving goalposts for delisting are a source of deep frustration for many in the region. People who live and work in recovery areas continue to experience increasing conflicts, safety concerns and disproportionate economic costs.”
Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been listed as protected under the Endangered Species Act for 50 years. In 2023, The Wyoming Game and Fish Department reported that there were approximately 1,030 grizzlies in the Cowboy State following several years of steady growth.
Erik Kalsta, WLA’s Working Wild Challenge director and a sheep and cattle producer in Montana’s Big Hole Valley, said he supports the decision.
“It’s important that producers have the resources to be able to address the challenges of sharing space with these species. Keeping these private lands intact is essential for a whole host of things: food, fiber, habitat for wildlife and vibrance of rural communities,” Kalsta said. “Together compensation, conflict prevention, selective lethal control and collaboration provide the solutions to reducing conflicts that can really affect a producer’s bottom line.”
However, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision means that the Northern Rockies states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho won’t be gaining jurisdiction over the species in the near future or be empowered to authorize hunting of the bruins. Gordon criticized the administration for the decision, and called into question its efficacy.
“It has always been clear the Biden administration had no intention of delisting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear. This latest move to keep a fully-recovered population on the Endangered Species List and eliminate the DPS confirms this decision is driven by politics and not biology,” Gordon said in a statement. “The GYE grizzly bear has been delisted twice. Population determinations should not be made whimsically; Lower 48 management approach is not scientifically based.”
Gordon also criticized the federal government for not involving state officials in the decision-making process more.
“Our state wildlife managers are foremost experts on this bruin,” the governor said. “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 authority to fully manage wildlife is within the state’s purview.”
The federal agency also put forward the idea of eliminating “distinct population segments” in favor of managing all grizzlies in the Continental U.S. as a collective.
“We’re losing ground, literally, and will continue to do so until we change our fundamental approach to conservation,” Allison said. “If we want long-term success, we need solutions that work for both people and wildlife. Things like support for nonlethal conflict prevention practices, habitat leases and fair compensation for losses are needed to alleviate the economic toll on producers in large carnivore recovery areas, enabling them to keep these lands and habitats intact.”
