The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Wednesday rejected petitions from Montana and Wyoming seeking to strip Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for grizzly bears in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Instead, FWS proposed reducing the geographic scope of federal protections for the bears and announced plans to revise the 4(d) rule, which would provide more flexible management tools for agencies and landowners dealing with grizzly bear conflicts.
Martha Williams, FWS director, stated that the reclassification would aid grizzly bear recovery and establish a foundation for their eventual delisting from protected status. She emphasized that the new changes would provide agencies more tools to manage human-bear conflicts, crucial to the species’ recovery.
However, Montana’s Republican Governor Greg Gianforte and the state’s Fish Wildlife & Parks agency criticized FWS’s decision, arguing that the grizzly bear’s full recovery across the Rocky Mountain region should be recognized and managed at the state level. Gianforte also expressed disappointment with the delay in addressing the petitions, which had been pending for years under the Biden administration.
