The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recommended no change to the current listed status of the grizzly bear in the lower-48 states as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) following the completion of a five-year status review.
The five-year assessment concluded grizzly bear populations have “expanded considerably, both in terms of size and range, since the time of listing in 1975,” but occupy 6 percent of their historical range. USFWS estimates the population in 2019 to be at least 1,913 grizzlies, primarily in the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems.
Despite the population recovery, USFWS states many challenges remain for a full recovery of the grizzly bear population. These remaining challenges include limited habitat connectivity, management of access by motorized vehicles, human-caused mortality and uncertainty surrounding future conservation efforts in some ecosystems.
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Executive Director of Natural Resources and Public Lands Council Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover called the announcement “disappointing” despite communities doing “everything right” to aid in the bear’s recovery.
“Local officials, rural families, and ranchers have continually demonstrated their commitment to protecting wildlife species, including grizzly bears, from extinction—even when this work comes at great personal, financial, and ecological cost,” said Glover in a statement.
Sam Kieffer, vice president of public affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, was also disappointed with the announcement and suggested with the population “thriving,” management of the bears should lie with the states rather than the federal government.
Trina Jo Bradley, a Valier, MT, rancher and Front Range County Farm Bureau member, expressed dismay at the news.
“This is a straight punch in the face to every producer who has ever lost livestock to grizzlies, to every parent that can’t let their kids adventure outside for fear they’ll have a run-in with a grizzly, and to every scientist who has worked to recover the population of grizzly bears in the lower 48,” Bradley told the Montana Farm Bureau Federation. “It’s like the last 40 years of work didn’t even matter.”
Bradley ranches in areas frequented by grizzly bears and has served on boards regarding grizzly recovery and worked on recommendations to the USFWS to mitigate grizzly encounters with livestock and humans.
Both Bradley and Glover agreed USFWS could not keep “moving the goal post” using ESA as a management tool by hiding behind the ESA status and the agency must work with communities affected by grizzly bears. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
