On June 27, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of the Interior (SOI) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for “violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Administrative Procedure Act (APA).”
The organization claims the administration has failed to provide a timely grizzly bear five-year review and update the management and recovery plan, as well as “unreasonably” denied CBD’s 2014 petition for an updated bear recovery plan.
The lawsuit reads that the administration listed grizzly bears as endangered in the lower 48 states “over 40 years ago” and in 2011 found that 1993 Recovery Plan was no longer the best science and needed an update. However, the plan was not updated, so CBD filed a petition in 2014 asking the administration for an amendment.
The petition requested an update to the 1993 plan to “include all significant remaining areas of suitable habitat across the grizzly bear’s native range in the western U.S.”
“The recovery plan for grizzly bears is more than 25 years old, doesn’t reflect current science and is unambitious,” said Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the center. “Grizzlies now live in just a small fraction of the lands they once roamed, but there’s great habitat in the West where these magnificent animals could once again survive.”
The administration denied the petition, stating, “Recovery plans are not rules under the APA,” and the administration had “satisfied [its] statutory responsibilities for recovery planning and implementation.”
The lawsuit said, according to the USFWS 2018 annual grizzly bear report, “fewer than 1,900 grizzly bears survive in the lower 48 states,” and in only four of the six recovery areas.
“The bears have made progress in and around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, but we need a plan for their recovery in more places,” said Adkins.
In the suit, CBD requests the administration prepare a five-year status review, update the management plan and “evaluate the need to pursue grizzly bear recovery in additional areas.” — WLJ
