The Fish and Wildlife Service Must Reject Gianforte's Political Grizzly Bear Petition

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to remove Endangered Species Act protections from grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE), the area within and near Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. This petition should be rejected by USFWS. Here’s why.

The petition is not based upon the best scientific and commercial information available. In fact, its key provision of declaring the NCDE to be a genetically distinct population segment is devoid of any scientific backing or supporting data whatsoever and is not in accord with the Distinct Population Segment Policy. It is built entirely on numbers using questionable methods.

Let’s be clear, the petition is a transparent political power grab and a vehicle to begin hunting of grizzly bears no matter the levels of other mortality sources. If delisted there WILL be hunting of grizzly bears with mortality exceeding sustainable levels. Forget science-based management. We can see the potential future of state management of grizzly bears by taking a look at the current wolf slaughter which has wiped out entire packs of Yellowstone wolves. By fencing bears into undersized recovery zones with a wall of mortality, the State is attempting to create distinct population segments through permanent isolation. The State’s plan allows for the NCDE grizzly population to fall more than 27% before remedial actions are even considered. That’s an invitation to the extinction vortex where rapid population decline cannot be reversed by management.


https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/10/the-fish-and-wildlife-service-must-reject-gianfortes-political-grizzly-bear-petition/