FWS Sticks to Grizzly Delisting
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
May 21, 2018
In late 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened a public comment period
on the impact of a federal court ruling on its decision to remove the Yellowstone
grizzly population from federal protection. The action was taken because the
federal court (in regard to wolves in the Great Lakes region) had overturned the
agency’s decision to both designate a population as a "Distinct Population
Segment" at the same time the agency removed that DPS from federal protection.
The agency had undertaken the same action with the Yellowstone region’s grizzly
bear population.
The court had ruled that while FWS had the authority to designate a DPS and delist
it in the same rule, it violated the Endangered Species Act by designating and
delisting the Great Lakes wolf DPS without evaluating the implications for the
remainder of the listed entity of wolves after delisting the DPS. The court also
ruled that FWS failed to analyze the effect of lost historical range on the Great
Lakes wolf DPS.
FWS noted, "In light of this ruling, we asked for public input to aid our
consideration of whether the GYE delisting determination should be revisited and
what, if any, further analysis was necessary regarding the remaining grizzly bear
populations and lost historical range."
The federal wildlife protection agency has now decided that the federal court
ruling in the wolf case does not impact the Yellowstone-area grizzly bear delisting,
since all of the grizzly bears in the lower 48 States remain listed as threatened,
except where superseded by the Yellowstone grizzly DPS delisting. In addition, the
delisting is consistent with the agency’s overall recovery strategy.
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