Wyoming Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce harshly criticized a Biden administration decision to keep grizzlies under federal endangered species protection, saying it dismisses the work Wyoming has put into managing bears.
“The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has spent millions of license fee dollars and thousands of hours to fulfill all the obligations required to demonstrate to the courts and USFWS that GYE (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) grizzly bears are fully recovered,” Bruce said in a statement released Thursday.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it had rejected petitions from Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to have the bears delisted and hand management of bears over to the states.
“This decision shows that no matter what we do, the USFWS refuses to recognize the state’s efforts as well as the sacrifices and compromises made by the public who live, work and recreate in areas occupied by grizzly bears,” Bruce added. “This decision is unfortunate and disappointing for grizzly bears and for the people of Wyoming.”
Game and Fish has long advocated for grizzly delisting. In 2023, then-Director Brian Nesvik testified before a U.S. Congressional committee, saying that grizzly delisting is long past due.
Some Like The Ruling
Others praised keeping grizzlies protected. A regionwide coalition of environmental groups, including Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, stated late Wednesday that keeping grizzlies listed is the right thing to do.
That coalition includes Missoula, Montana-based biologist Chris Servheen, who was the federal grizzly bear recovery coordinator 35 years prior to his retirement in 2016.
Servheen advocates for a region-wide, interconnected “meta-population” of grizzlies.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
