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Wyoming wildlife managers pursuing ‘all options’ to delist grizzlies

 

A grizzly bear in the Grand Teton National Park region. (National Park Service/C.J. Adams)

JACKSON (WNE) — Angi Bruce is clear: Wyoming wildlife managers are planning to do whatever they can to remove grizzly bears’ Endangered Species Act protections and turn their management of the iconic omnivore over to the states.

“It is a priority for Wyoming to have bears under state management,” the director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said Thursday in Cheyenne. “All options are being pursued.”

Bruce is not the only official interested in overturning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision earlier this month to continue classifying grizzlies as “threatened” and to redefine how it thinks about protecting them. 

States, including Wyoming, have argued that is tantamount to moving the goalpost, especially after the bears met or exceeded population or demographic recovery thresholds established by the service. 

“This decision shows, no matter what we do, the Fish and Wildlife Service refuses to recognize Wyoming’s efforts, as well as the sacrifices and compromises made by the public who live, work and recreate in areas occupied by grizzly bears,” Bruce said. 

Doug Burgum, President Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of the Interior, pledged last week to work to remove the bears’ federal protections. If confirmed, the former North Dakota governor will oversee Fish and Wildlife, which makes decisions about listing and delisting, and has an open comment window in its proposal to maintain and reclassify bears’ protections.

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., has introduced legislation that would strip grizzly protections and exempt the decision from future legal challenges. 

Bruce said the department backs Hageman’s bill and is working with her to pass it. 

She argued that Wyoming has done more than enough to signal its commitment to protecting bears, including setting habitat standards, agreeing to a conservation strategy backed by federal land managers that moves bears to augment genetic diversity, and signing a tri-state memorandum of agreement that limits how many grizzlies could be hunted annually after delisting.



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