Yellowstone Grizzly to be removed from endangered list

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear will be removed from the endangered species list, according to a letter sent from United States Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel Ashe to state officials in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.

“Thank you for your letter dated Aug. 28 regarding our ongoing discussions on the potential delisting of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population,” Ashe wrote. “As you know, since the date of your letter we have had two additional meetings on this topic. The first occurred between our respective staff as well as staff from the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey on Sept. 9 and 10. The second was the meeting that the four of us had, along with both NPS and USFS, at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies annual meeting on Sept. 14. Based on those two meetings, I believe we have a mutually understood process that will allow the Service to proceed with a proposed delisting proposal as follows.”

The proposal includes guidelines for continued management of grizzly bear mortality within a revised Demographic Monitoring Area of 19,279 square miles and provides a timeline and associated action items for recovery criteria and the conservation strategy, according to the letter. The proposal, expected by the end of the year, will also call for additional state-based regulatory mechanisms and annual meetings between federal and state agencies to discuss managed mortality in and around federal lands.

Also expected by the end of the year is the agency’s action on competing petitions filed by Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners regarding the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem grizzly bears. The commissioners have petitioned the agency to delist the bears, while the Alliance has asked for placement on the endangered species list.

Agency grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen, based in Missoula, said decisions on those petitions are expected around the middle of December, and will be published immediately in the Federal Register.