Feds move closer to lifting grizzly protections

BILLINGS — The Biden administration took a first step Friday toward ending federal protections for grizzly bears in the northern Rocky Mountains, which would open the door to future hunting in several states.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the governors of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming provided “substantial” information that grizzlies have recovered from the threat of extinction in the regions surrounding Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.

Federal officials raised concerns about recently passed state laws that could affect grizzly populations, and Friday’s move kicks off at least a year of further study before final decisions about the Yellowstone and Glacier regions.

The move met with bipartisan support from Montana’s U.S. senators. Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican, called it welcome news.

“The science is clear — it’s time to delist the grizzly bear. I’m glad to see Fish and Wildlife Service listen to science, Montanans and Gov. [Greg] Gianforte to move forward with the process to delist the grizzly bear in the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems,” Daines said in a statement.

His Democratic counterpart, Sen. Jon Tester, pledged to push the Biden administration to support state efforts to craft a management plan for the animal.

“After decades of collaborative work between federal, state, local and Tribal groups, we’ve seen grizzly bears in Montana come back from the brink of extinction, and that’s something to celebrate,” Tester said in a statement. “Now state government needs to develop science- based management plans to ensure success, and I’ll hold the Biden administration’s feet to the fire to provide support.”

Gianforte also praised the federal agency’s decision on Friday morning.

“After decades of work, the grizzly bear has more than recovered in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, which represents a conservation success,” he said in a statement. “As part of that conservation success, the federal government has accepted our petition to delist the grizzly in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, opening the door to state management of this iconic American species.”

State officials have insisted any future hunts would be limited and not endanger the overall population. However, Republican lawmakers in the region in recent years have adopted more aggressive policies against gray wolves, including loosened trapping rules that could lead to grizzlies being inadvertently killed.

As many as 50,000 grizzlies once roamed the western half of the U.S. They were exterminated in most of the country early last century by overhunting and trapping, and the last hunts in the northern Rockies occurred decades ago. There are now more than 2,000 bears in the Lower 48 states and much larger populations in Alaska, where hunting is allowed.

The federal government removed protections for the Yellowstone ecosystem’s grizzlies in 2017. Wyoming and Idaho were set to allow grizzlies to be hunted when a judge restored those protections in 2018, siding with environmental groups that said delisting wasn’t based on sound science. Those groups want protections kept in place so bears can continue moving into new areas.

Daily Inter Lake staff contributed to this report.