A federal decision on the endangered status of grizzly bears has been delayed.
Wildlife managers in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho have asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list in certain areas, including the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, while the states would continue to be responsible for managing the bears.
According to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, the region’s population has met criteria for recovery for more than two decades after the species was placed under federal protection in 1975.
Andrea Zaccardi, legal director for carnivore conservation and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said population spread across isolated ecosystems could be detrimental to recovery.
“Because the Yellowstone bears are completely isolated from all other populations, they have problems with genetic diversity,” Zaccardi stressed. “The ideal would be to protect these bears until the populations are connected and there is real genetic exchange.”
A federal decision expected on July 31 has been pushed back to early 2025. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the delay was to ensure consistency in decisions across multiple petitions. Governor Mark Gordon called the missed deadline unacceptable.
The Yellowstone area spans three states, so if grizzlies were delisted at the federal level, they would be subject to multiple states’ management plans and hunting regulations.
Rick King, chief game warden and wildlife director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said there is already an agreement between the three states and a conservation strategy has been developed with the National Park Service.
“This represents the overarching direction and commitment that all states and these agencies will make to ensure that a healthy and robust grizzly bear population is maintained,” King asserted, “even if they are delisted from the ESA.”
In both 2007 and 2017, grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park were briefly delisted, but both decisions were overturned in court.
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A federal district judge in Missoula has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must reconsider its listing of Montana’s Arctic grayling population under the Endangered Species Act.
The agency argued that the listing was unjustified. The court’s decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of interest groups.
There are six species of grayling in the Northern Hemisphere, but the colorful Arctic grayling is the only species found in North America and is already extinct in Michigan.
Patrick Kelly, director of the Western Watersheds Project for Montana and Washington, which is part of the coalition suing the agency, said the grayling faces an uphill battle for environmental protection.
“The big problem with this fish, which is very dependent on cold water, is climate change, heat waves and drought and everything related to this man-made phenomenon,” Kelly explained.
The court order states that the Fish and Wildlife Service has one year to make a new decision about the Arctic grayling. The fight over the fish began in 1991, but the agency argued based on its best science that the fish should not be placed on the endangered species list.
Kelly pointed out that the grayling population continues to decline due to climate change and the degradation of their habitat. He noted that the West has experienced some of the hottest weather on record and that there have been massive river closures in key rivers where grayling live.
“They’re fighting and they’ve been fighting for a long time,” Kelly stressed. “That’s why this is such an important decision because it’s hopefully another chance for the agency to do the right thing and put this fish on the list so it can be protected and saved under the Endangered Species Act.”
Protection would require, among other things, a federal restoration plan that addresses the chronically low water levels of Montana’s iconic Big Hole River.
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The Wyoming Game and Fish Department will soon have a new director, and she is concerned about the challenges ahead.
More than half of Wyoming’s total land area is public land, and it’s the state’s least populated in the Lower 48, so the game and fisheries commissioner has a big job managing wildlife and habitats.
Governor Mark Gordon recently appointed Angi Bruce as the agency’s first woman, who will take office in September.
Bruce said the state has a strong heritage, including the highest population of sage grouse in the country and the longest mule deer migration corridor in the world. But as weather patterns change and public land use increases, Bruce said the agency needs to focus on habitat resilience.
“That’s why it’s going to be a top priority over the next few years, but also the next decade, to really look at how we can make our habitat even stronger and more resilient so that wildlife can cope with these stressors and keep their populations healthy,” she said.
Conservation requires multi-agency collaboration, which Bruce says produces better outcomes. She is paying attention to important upcoming federal decisions that will impact state wildlife management of sage grouse aggregations and resource management in the Rock Springs area.
Bruce said the department faces challenges including wildlife diseases. Chronic Wasting Disease, for example, is a deadly disease that affects mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk and moose, and its steady spread has become a growing concern in recent years.
“When it comes to diseases, we don’t have all the answers,” she said, “and to understand them, we definitely need to do more in terms of management and research.”
During her first year, Bruce said, her priority will be to listen to others – both those in her department and the citizens of Wyoming in general.
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An art exhibition in Seattle draws attention to the dire situation of orcas off the coast of Washington.
The show, titled “SUPER POD: All Together,” features all members of the endangered Southern Resident Orca pods.
Gabriel Newton, the artist behind the project, painted the whales with acrylic paints on 45 pieces of wood he found on the shores of the Salish Sea, where the whales migrate and feed. He said the whales struggle to hold on.
“The idea came from a desire to raise awareness of the plight and lack of food they are experiencing,” Newton explained, “and to motivate people to take action to help the orcas recover.”
When Newton began the project, there were 74 members of the Southern Residents, but a recent population analysis found that only 72 remain. Newton argued that removing dams on the lower Snake River would allow more Chinook salmon, the whales’ main food source, to migrate to the Pacific Ocean. The exhibit opens August 1 at the A/NT Gallery at Seattle Center.
Deborah Giles, science and research director at the nonprofit organization Wild Orca, said the lack of prey is the biggest problem facing Southern Resident orcas. She stressed that drastic measures are needed to save them, including restricting fishing to ensure they have enough food.
“These whales are not recovering, and they are not recovering because we are not serious enough about fisheries management,” Giles claimed. “That is the bottom line.”
Newton added that saving the killer whales and salmon is critical, not only for them but for us too.
“Every time a thread in the web of life breaks, our own ability to thrive diminishes,” Newton claimed. “I consider orcas and salmon to be both very important threads.”
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