Don’t hold your breath, but sometime in the future you may be able to obtain a tag to legally hunt and harvest a grizzly bear in the U.S. — outside of Alaska — for the first time in the modern era.
In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) began its long and cumbersome federal process to remove the grizzly bear within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The move was generally hailed by hunters and conservationists as a signal that the feds recognized the species was thriving and fully recovered in the region, after its listing as a threatened species in the lower 48 states under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1975.
As part of the delisting process, FWS is requiring wildlife managers in the three states having lands within the GYE — Wyoming, Montana and Idaho — to outline the structure and framework of any future grizzly bear hunting seasons subsequent to the delisting. Wyoming has completed its proposal, Montana officials agreed to parameters the week, and Idaho is due to complete the process in a matter of days. In addition, the states have apportioned the grizzlies that could be hunted according to their individual share of grizzly habitat within the GYE area: Wyoming with 58 percent, Montana with 34 percent and Idaho with 8 percent.
Montana wildlife managers this week estimated that should the grizzly hunt move forward, their total harvest would be fewer than 10 bears in most years.
That said, with the lengthy federal delisting structure, comment periods and forthcoming hearings in each of the three states, and Tri-State MOA approval, it’s safe to surmise that hunters shouldn’t be marking their calendars to apply for grizzly draw hunts any time soon. Throw in a few expected potential lawsuits from environmental and animal protection factions in the interim, and well, you get the picture.
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is one of five areas where grizzlies live in the lower 48 states and the only area affected by the ESA delisting. The others are the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem, Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem, Selkirk ecosystem, and Northern Cascades ecosystem.
The FWS continues to point to the proposed delisting of the grizzly bear in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho as a testament to the value of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but there are many within the hunting and conservation community – and on Capitol Hill — who might disagree with that premise.
Nonetheless, the Yellowstone grizzly population has rebounded from as few as 136 bears in 1975 to an estimated 700 or more today.
“The recovery of the Yellowstone grizzly bear represents a historic success for partnership-driven wildlife conservation under the Endangered Species Act,” said Service Director Dan Ashe, an appointee of the Obama Administration. “Our proposal underscores and celebrates more than 30 years of collaboration with our trusted federal, state and tribal partners to address the unique habitat challenges of grizzlies. The final post-delisting management plans by these partners will ensure healthy grizzly populations persist across the Yellowstone ecosystem long into the future.”
The complete FWS delisting proposal, published in the Federal Register March 11, may be viewed here: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles... lation
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