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On March third, the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed removing the grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from the endangered species list. They are now taking Comments and hunters need to speak up quickly.
Please go to the Proposed Regulation and click on the Comment button. The USFWS says that, “submissions merely supporting or opposing a potential delisting, without supporting documentation, will not be considered in making a determination” so be sure to say something more than just you are in favor of delisting. You don’t need to write anything long and despite what they say, the number of responses does matter. As for documentation, you can mention the information and sources here.
According to Yellowstone National Park, over the last 40 years the grizzly population there has grown from 136 to a stable population of somewhere between 674 and 839 The recovery population goal was 500 and was actually met in 1999.
The grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area had been removed from the list in 2007 but in 2009 a 9th Circuit federal judge ordered that they be put back on, citing the decline of the whitebark pine tree, whose pine cone nuts were seen as a critical part of the grizzly diet.
However, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team found in 2013 that a lesser supply of whitebark pine cone nuts is not a significant factor because of the variety of foods grizzlies eat. The stable population also indicates that the whitebark pine decline has not reduced bear numbers. Chris Servheen, the grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the USFWS, said that biological factors like distribution and reproduction also indicate the population is recovered..
Predictably, the Sierra Club and some other groups are opposing the delisting. Here are the objections listed by the Sierra Club in an August 2015 article.
- The growth rate of the Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear population has been flat since the early 2000s, and may be in decline. Fewer cubs and yearlings are surviving to adulthood.
Fact: Chris Servheen, the grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the USFWS, said the reason the population is leveling out is that bear density has reached the carrying capacity for the range.
Fact: the number of female grizzlies with cubs in the Yellowstone ecosystem was the highest ever recorded ever counted in 2013.
- Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region are completely isolated from other grizzly bear populations, both geographically and demographically, as they have been for 100 years.
Fact: Grizzlies in the Lower 48, of which the Yellowstone population is the second largest (next to the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem in Montana at 1,000 – also likely to be proposed for delisting), have more than doubled their range to 22,500 square miles, an area larger than the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined. Grizzlies again roam from the Tetons south of Yellowstone up through northwestern Montana and a good part of Idaho, to the Canadian border.
- Existing state management plans will not protect Yellowstone grizzly bears and will not allow them to connect to other grizzly populations if they are delisted now. Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, the three states where Yellowstone grizzly bears live, plan to immediately initiate sport hunting of grizzly bears as soon as they are delisted.
Fact: Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have a joint plan adjusting hunting if the population falls below 675 and will halt hunting altogether if the number drops to 600.
- Courts have ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must consider the overall recovery of the species as it was originally listed under the Endangered Species Act, and may not delist isolated segments of the species (such as the Greater Yellowstone grizzly population) one at a time.
Fact: This is a stalling tactic. Not all courts agree on any issue, especially since judge-shopping has become a common legal tactic, especially by activists. And, of course, not all areas see population recovery at the same rate.
Opponents also say that the number of human-bear contacts must be reduced before the grizzly bear can be taken off the endangered list. But precautions are already in place and allowing the population to increase by preventing hunting would lead to more interactions, not fewer.
Another opponent, The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, wants a delisting that has the bears managed as one population. OK. Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have written a joint plan for post-delisting management of grizzlies.
The facts are on our side but facts can be overlooked by liberal judges. The grizzly experts in charge of the recovery are the ones proposing delisting and it is long overdue.
You have your chance to speak up. If you want to stand up to the anti-hunting crowd and support the delisting of the grizzly bear as proposed by the USFWS you need to comment and pass the word to other hunters. The time is short. Make your voice count.
I have no scientific data that is specific to Grizzly Bears but I believe history proves that managed hunting is the most efficient/effective process to maintain any species. All varieties of wildlife show tremendous long-term benefit, growth in numbers, because of ethical hunting.
Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone should be delisted from the endandered list and populations controlled by hunting and or by any means decided by local game athorities. Everyone who understands nature knows any wildlife specie can only populate to the local food supply level. Once that level is passed they will kill each other for food.
Hunters and local Fish and Game departments should be in charge of managing the population of Grizzly bears. Hunters have done an excellent job of managing our wildlife resources and should be allowed to manage all wildlife. The Grizzly bear has had a significant come back in the last few decades and should be removed from the endangered species list. If the population increases anymore, they will pose a threat to humans, and eachother. The reason they were added back to the list is the same reason they should be removed. If their food source is declining, then they’re would be less food to support a larger population of bears. So adding them back on the list for that reason, just does not make sense.
I’m in favor of delisting, and we as hunters can do our part to promote and maintain a successful delisting by decreasing our inadvertent bear mortality by using pepper spray in our deer and elk hunting camps instead of relying on lethal methods. Most deaths of grizzlies who reach adolescence are caused by surprise encounters with hunters, and eliminating that source of mortality will promote sanctioned hunting as a control method, and allow grizzlies to maintain populations within remote areas such that problem animals can be dealt with on the periphery of their range without detriment to deliberate hunting. We should all avail ourselves of the current information about how to minimize surprise interactions and how to best protect ourselves while not derailing 40 years of grizzly protection.
one thing I know is that there is getting to be to many bears wandering around where they wasn’t years ago , one of the areas I hunt near Swan Valley Id. you seen a lot of black bear track and bears and a grizzly track once in a while but now there is so many Grizzlies that they have posted signs at the trail head to beware of the Bears, over in my elk hunting area west of Swan valley there is getting to be so many wolves that you can’t hardly find an Elk 10 years ago you could see elk in herds of 25 to 50 and see elk every day now days your lucky to see 5 or 6 elk in a group and you have to hunt several weekends to find them. now days no one hunts there because there just isn’t any elk to hunt. I have hunted there for 35 years and have seen a huge change. What makes me MAD is the people that want the Wolves probably live in New York and have never seen a wolf and never will .
According Wyoming Game & Fish, a documented satellite tracking as recent as 2015 of a known grizzly bear has been recorded south of South Pass WY, close to I-70 than Yellowstone!
Now is the time to listen to the experts and delist the grizzly bear. Special intrest groups never listen to facts because they really don’t want to hear them. If they are not delisted they will only over populate and cause more havoc and will have more people out to try and eliminate them all together. Sportsman have done more all wildlife than any special intrest groups but they would never admit to it.
It is time to delist the grizzly the population is almost six times over objective . There has been a rise in grizzly attacks on man in places like glacier park and other areas . The elk herds are already struggling in idaho montana and wyoming due to predation. Hunting is the #1 donor to conservation and I know the sierra club doesnt put money on the ground like hunters and wildlife groups. If we dont delist them we will see more human attacks and watch big game herds countinue to spiral down. Delisting these animals will not drive them to extinction it will only make the population dynamic stronger and healthier.
The fish & game managers have done an excellent job of protecting our Grizzly bears and to bring their population into the target range. Now it is time to listen to their recommendations for delisting. It will be through their actions that the bear populations are kept within this range! This will allow for all to enjoy expierencing these magnificent animals whether hunting or just veiwing. The plans are set to keep them safe from extinction and to protect people from unwanted interactions. So let’s stick to the plan. Delist now!
You creeps, You see what happened to Scar face because of your de-listing him! He was too old and mellow to hurt anyone. Now because of you he had been murdered. Relist our bears!
“Murder” does not apply to animals. If it did, grizzlies would be murderers of ground squirrels, grubs and young deer. Boar grizzlies are notorious killers of their own offspring.
I shot a black bear a few years ago whose teeth were worn down to the gums. If not for my humane shot, he would have taken months to slowly starve to death.
Would you rather be chased and eaten alive by a pack of newly reintroduced wolves, slowly starve to death or die quickly by a hunter’s bullet?
Predation is part of the natural world. The world of Bambi talking to bunnies is a fantasy.
To say that a species has “recovered” when it occupies less than 2% of its original range and reaches a level of 674 when the original population was 50,000-100,000 is absurd. It’s not possible to restore the species to original numbers and range, but 2% is wholly inadequate.
Not all of us share your goal of recreational killing and trophy hunting. Find some other way to feel big in the world that doesn’t require inflicting suffering on other beings..
Suffering is being pulled down and eaten alive by wolves.
The population #s you cite are beside the point. Grizzlies are never again going to range across the US down to Mexico because the population of the US is now 320 million. Even so, there are currently 55,000 wild grizzlies in North America, hardly an endangered species overall.
We are talking about delisting in a particular area and the biologist in charge of the recovery says the bears are at their saturation level for the area. That’s what matters.
In fact, there are so many grizzlies outside the park that many hunters are afraid to hunt those areas for other species.
Dave,you cant rationalize with emotional people that dont have a clue what they’re talking about,Ole Scar face would have slowly starved to death,but in their eyes thats better,what about all the fawn deer and elk that are killed by the bears and wolves,that are eatin still alive, but I quess thats perfectly okay with people like Ellen and Pamela,wait til the bears start eating your pet dogs or cats,and you’d better not try to save them,dont want to hurt poor BooBoo
We need to move the grizzlies to another state to help them repopulate the state like new Mexico need to help out with this now
I agree with the ladies, we should move all the Grizzlies to the other 98% of their traditional range. We’ll start with just outside aspen, Colorado. Since they’re endangered, we’ll have to close down all skiing as to not disturb them during hibernation.