Group petitions Fish and Wildlife Service to revise grizzly recovery plan based on new report

In a recent report, the former longtime recovery manager for grizzly bears for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service argues against delisting grizzlies and outlines how he thinks the federal recovery plan he drafted in 1993 should be revised to treat grizzlies in the Northern Rockies as a single population and incorporate new research on how to link disparate grizzly populations to ensure their long-term recovery.

Just weeks before the Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to make decisions on whether to delist the animals from Endangered Species Act protections in two ecosystems in Montana or throughout the Lower 48 states, a group of 15 environmental and animal conservation organizations sent a petition to the agency on Wednesday, requesting that it update its Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan.

Chris Servheen, who served as the Fish and Wildlife Service’s grizzly bear recovery coordinator from 1981 to 2016 and was stationed in Missoula, said he had been working on the new study for a year and that it just so happened to be finished right before the agency’s decisions are made public. At the moment, Servheen serves as co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s North American Bears Expert Team.

In court documents earlier this year, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that it would make decisions by the end of January, most likely before the administration change, regarding the delisting of grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states, the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The states of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho have requested delisting because their leaders feel that grizzly bears have recovered in their respective ecosystems or in the United States overall, and they want to be permitted to manage the species at the state level.

However, in response to all of the states’ petitions, Servheen and the organizations that submitted the petition on Wednesday morning do not think grizzlies have recovered sufficiently to justify delisting. They cite the 90 recorded grizzly bear deaths in the Northern Rockies this year, including 73 in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, as evidence that more needs to be done before governors, who hope to eventually allow grizzly hunting seasons, have control over the species’ future.

In a news conference outlining the petition and report, Earthjustice senior attorney Mary Cochenour stated that although the service has been managing bears under the same plan for the past 31 years, a lot has changed in the field of grizzly bear science and conservation in the three decades since the plan was first revised. Managing bears in isolated groups is no longer an effective strategy, and recovery involves more than merely increasing bear numbers.

According to Servheen’s report, the 1993 revision to the recovery plan he oversaw does not take into consideration the Northern Rockies’ population growth or the states’ recent initiatives, such as Montana’s, to develop or implement programs aimed at lowering predator populations, including for wolves and grizzlies, which were once protected.

Instead of the present approach, which includes five distinct recovery zones in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and eastern Washington, the research suggests managing grizzly bears as a single metapopulation in the Northern Rockies. According to Servheen, the number of grizzlies in the five recovery zones has increased from an estimated 300 to 400 when the species was protected in 1975 to over 2,000 now.

Additionally, it suggests that the federal and state governments implement stricter laws to reduce the number of grizzly bear deaths caused by humans and the expansion of residences and commercial establishments into grizzly bear habitat, particularly in the connectivity zones where scientists anticipate that the various ecosystem populations will eventually connect to strengthen the overall population and diversify the species gene pool.

According to the paper, these changes will improve resilience and create a robust recovery mechanism in the 4% of the grizzlies’ historical range that is still in the continental United States. This strategy encourages Tribal, State, and Federal entities to collaborate in order to create a robust and long-lasting recovery framework for this iconic and vulnerable species, instead of rushing to delist the grizzly bear.

According to Servheen’s study, the Northern Rockies grizzly bear is still in danger and cannot be delisted if the Fish and Wildlife Service does not accept his suggested changes to the recovery plan.

It claims that since grizzlies have migrated outside of each recovery area’s borders, it makes more sense to treat them as a metapopulation. This is because grizzlies can eventually be linked between the various areas and managed as a single population rather than with specific population guidelines for each area.

According to the paper, a naturally occurring metapopulation of interdependent grizzly bears in the Northern U.S. Rockies will be more genetically and demographically resistant to the region’s growing human activities and the continued effects of climate change.

State and local governments, as well as federal land agencies, should better manage sprawl into grizzly bear territory, find ways to educate local residents to keep themselves and the bears safe and out of conflict, and lessen the pressure that recreation places on grizzly bears, according to the report and the petition.

Several representatives of the 15 groups stated at a news conference on Tuesday that this is to provide the bears a better chance of moving across the connection zones, to keep them focused on wild food sources, and to stop humans from artificially altering grizzly bear habitat.

The Montana Grizzly Bear Advisory Council, which was established in 2020 by former Democratic Governor Steve Bullock, made recommendations that, according to Servheen, “support our vision for an interconnected metapopulation of grizzly bears in Montana.” However, he claimed that under Republican Governor Greg Gianforte’s administration and with some lawmakers’ anti-predatory views, that vision has shifted.

He claimed that among the new dangers to grizzly bears were laws permitting black bear hound hunts and the use of baited wolf traps and snares. The same organizations that filed the petition have been successful in getting Montana and Idaho to limit wolf trapping seasons to times when grizzlies are most likely to be inside their winter dens.

Why do states have so strong anti-carnivorous laws? According to Servheen, it appears that certain people have an unnatural dislike of carnivores. It is not supported by facts and is not reasonable. In the perspective of some, it essentially reflects the anti-predator sentiments of the nineteenth century. Modern science and fact-based wildlife management cannot accommodate these governmental policies about carnivores.

Teton County, Wyoming, has been working to provide bear-proof trash cans to residents and visitors, help pay for electric fencing, and develop other measures that allow grizzlies and people to live together, according to Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates. In order to help grizzlies avoid food habituation, which frequently results in their death, the petition calls for a revised recovery plan with additional funding and resources to enable people in recovery and connectivity regions to be more bear aware and tolerant of grizzlies.

Before grizzly bears to be deemed safe, coexistence must take place, and connectivity between those regions won’t be possible until people are aware that bears may be in their area and are taking precautions, according to Combs.

According to Cochenour, the organization aimed to forward the petition and report to the Fish and Wildlife Service for review prior to the agency issuing its delisting rulings. Servheen stated that if grizzlies are delisted in the Lower 48, there would be no grizzly recovery plan and the game would be over for grizzlies. According to Servheen, delisting grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem alone and revising the recovery plan would be an incomplete approach.

Cochenour stated that the group would be ready to support a wider recovery and defend grizzly bears regardless of the petition’s and the delisting choices’ outcomes. Servheen expressed his hope that governmental pressure won’t compel a conclusion that, in his opinion, lacks scientific support.

All Americans are the rightful owners of these bears. Their destiny is truly in our hands, he continued, and they shouldn’t be governed by a small group of anti-predator state legislators. Although most people believe grizzly bears to be extremely strong, in reality, they are extremely weak and susceptible to the choices we make.

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