06.07.16

Grijalva Warns of Legal Setbacks if Fish and Wildlife Service Prematurely Ends Protection for Threatened Yellowstone Grizzly Bears

Note: This press release's headline initially identified Yellowstone grizzlies as endangered. They are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. This online version has been updated to correct the error.

Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today sent a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dan Ashe cautioning against a rush to lift Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for grizzly bears in an area known as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The grizzly bear is currently listed as threatened under the ESA throughout the lower 48 states. Grijalva’s letter is available at http://1.usa.gov/1PE7gOZ.

On March 11, FWS proposed delisting a population of grizzly bears living in and around Yellowstone National Park. As Grijalva and other wildlife advocates have pointed out, the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have still not completed the management plans necessary for the delisting to be finalized. Nor has the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees more than two thirds of grizzly bear habitat in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, updated land use plans to account for grizzly habitat quality in the face of climate change, a growing human population in the region, and other factors.

The ESA requires that such plans include adequate regulatory mechanisms to protect at-risk species.

Grijalva’s letter points out that finalizing the delisting before the states and Forest Service complete their analyses will not ultimately save FWS time or effort. “Rushing to finalize the rule without addressing these concerns will likely result in the Service losing yet another lawsuit – an outcome that no one wants,” Grijalva writes.

Just as troubling, the delisting process has so far been marked by a lack of consultation with Native American tribes, as the Guardians of Our Ancestors’ Legacy Coalition wrote in May 9 public comments.

“Removing legal protections right now, without adequate safeguards to ensure continued recovery, is a recipe for disaster,” Grijalva said today. “Americans everywhere have invested in bringing this iconic species back from the brink of extinction. They deserve certainty that grizzlies will thrive under state management rather than be hunted down to the minimum number of bears allowed by law.”

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