CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming’s U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis has introduced legislation to de-list grizzly bears from the Endangered Species List.
The “Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2021” would remove grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from the Endangered Species List “and shift management of the grizzlies to wildlife scientists in the states,” a Thursday press release from Lummis’ press secretary states.
The legislation mirrors a bill previously introduced in the House of Representatives by Wyoming’s U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney.
The press release says that there were 136 grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1975 but that this had grown to 728 bears by 2019. It states that the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team’s analysis “suggests that the park is at or near its ecological carrying capacity for grizzly bears.”
“By all scientific measures, the grizzly bears of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are fully recovered,” Lummis said. “Reproductive numbers are stable and the population is at or near its max capacity for the habitat. It’s time to remove the grizzlies in this area from the Endangered Species List and allow wildlife scientists in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho to manage the populations according to science.”
“Grizzly bears are an essential part of the ecosystem of Wyoming, but keeping them listed hurts their populations more than it helps them. Wildlife managers that live near the bears and study them closely have a better idea of population parameters than bureaucrats in Washington. It’s time to delist the grizzly in our area and let science dictate our wildlife policy.”
Wyoming’s U.S. Sen. John Barrasso also supports the legislation.
“The science is clear: the grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are thriving and do not need protection under the Endangered Species Act,” Barrasso said. “This has been true for years. Even President Obama’s Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed with me that the grizzly bear should be delisted in 2015. The state of Wyoming should be in charge of managing the bear population.”
“Wyoming’s good work and sound management practices should be given an opportunity to demonstrate success. Seeing states successfully implement recovery efforts is just one of the many reasons I am working to improve the Endangered Species Act.”
This article originally appeared on Oil City News. Used with permission.
