USFWS Extends Comment Period for Grizzly Management Plan

As Greater Yellowstone grizzly bears begin to emerge from dens and return to the landscape following their winter hibernation, wildlife officials continue to debate the future of the apex predators’ protection status under the Endangered Species Act. 

Fifty years after the 1975 grizzly listing, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in January proposed revisions to the grizzly management plan that would change which populations of bears are protected by the act. On March 14, FWS announced it was extending its public comment period another 60 days to “give all interested parties an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed rule.” Comments will now be accepted until May 16. The rule proposed on Jan. 15 had more than 93,000 public comments on March 28. A "newer document" that included the rule and extended comment period was published on March 17 and as of March 28 has more than 53,000 public comments.

Currently, protections consider all grizzlies in the Lower 48 to be a single population receiving the same protections. The rule would revise that listing to establish a single distinct population segment across areas of Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming “where suitable habitat exists and where grizzly bears currently reside or are expected to establish as populations recover.” Grizzlies in these regions would retain their “threatened” status currently considered under the ESA. The rule would also remove ESA protections for bears outside of those regions, as well as areas where grizzlies do not currently live or aren’t believed to reside in the future.

In 2024, FWS delayed its ruling on whether to remove grizzlies from ESA protections, which prompted a slew of lawsuits from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, requiring separate evaluations of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly populations, as well as assessment of the overall grizzly bear population in the contiguous U.S. 

This January, FWS announced it would maintain ESA protection for grizzly bears in all or parts of four key habitat states: Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. Shortly after President Donald Trump ordered the cancellation of numerous public meetings earlier this year, FWS canceled a series of public meetings on grizzly status. 

The latest proposed change came after FWS rejected state petitions to hand grizzly population management plans back to state hands in January, ensuring the bears would still be awarded ESA safeguards. 

Dr. Chris Servheen, leading bear biologist and the original author of the 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan, suspects that FWS likely received a request to hold a public hearing surrounding the issue of delisting. The comment period cannot be closed until this request is fulfilled, but when or where that hearing is scheduled has not yet been publicly announced. Mountain Journal contacted FWS and its Grizzly Bear Recovery Program for comment and will update this article if a response is received. 

Decisions to delist grizzlies or alter their management plans is a contentious issue. Supporters of delisting argue that FWS is moving goalposts on recovery, while opponents argue more regulation is needed to ensure the species’ long-term survival. 

According to Servheen, the federal government has yet to meet three requirements for delisting an endangered species. Grizzly delisting requires that a healthy population has been established and that stable and suitable habitats exist for these groups.

“The third is that there are adequate regulatory mechanisms in place for mortality issues related to humans,” Servheen said. 

Grizzlies occupy large swaths of public lands used by recreationists, hunters and agriculturalists, for example. 

“There are multiple mechanisms in place to cause grizzly bear mortality,” Servheen added, “and there are inadequate ways to regulate that at the state level because the states would essentially be the controllers and the managers of mortality after delisting.” 

Among those threats, according to Servheen, are wolf-hunting mechanisms such as live baited shooting and the use of trapping snares that could be implemented following their delisting.

“States continue to pass laws to try to kill wolves in all these various ways and ignore the fact that these things also compromise the ability to manage grizzly bears,” he said. “[States] have ignored their responsibilities to control mortality.” 

At the time of their 1975 ESA listing, an estimated 700-800 grizzly bears roamed the Lower 48. Since then, these populations have grown to more than 2,000.

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