Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Law Redrawing Congressional Maps

21 hours ago

US Air Force will Offer Military Funeral Honors to Slain Capitol Rioter

22 hours ago

US Republican Senator Joni Ernst Will Not Run for Re-Election, CBS News Reports

24 hours ago

Wall Street Falls as Dell, Nvidia Drive Tech Losses

24 hours ago

US Denies Visas to Palestinian Officials Ahead of UN General Assembly

1 day ago

Minneapolis Children Revealed Courage, Absorbed Fear During Church Shooting

2 days ago

Ford Recalls Nearly 500,000 Vehicles Over Brake Fluid Leak

2 days ago

Fresno-Bound Passenger Says Delta Attendant Slapped Him, Seeks $20M

2 days ago
Grizzlies Get Back US Protections, Rockies Hunts Blocked
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 7 years ago on
September 25, 2018

Share

BILLINGS, Mont. — The first public grizzly bear hunts in the Northern Rockies in almost three decades have been blocked by a U.S. judge who rejected government claims that the fearsome predators had recovered from near-extermination.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ordered federal protections restored on Monday for more than 700 bruins in and around Yellowstone National Park.
Wyoming and Idaho were on the cusp of allowing hunters to kill up to 23 bears this fall — the first planned hunts in the U.S. outside Alaska since 1991.
The ruling was condemned by state officials who spent months planning the hunts, but there was no immediate word on whether an appeal seeking to overturn the ruling would be filed.
Christensen wrote in his ruling that the case was “not about the ethics of hunting.” Rather, he said, it was about whether federal officials adequately considered threats to the species’ long-term recovery when they lifted protections last year.
In the judge’s view, the answer was no.

50,000 Bears Once Roamed the Contiguous U.S.

He noted that an estimated 50,000 bears once roamed the contiguous U.S. and said it would be “simplistic at best and disingenuous at worst” not to consider the status of grizzlies outside the Yellowstone region, one of the few areas where they have bounced back.

“Grizzly bear recovery should be viewed as a conservation success story.” — Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said the ruling provided further evidence of flaws in the Endangered Species Act and the need for Congress to make changes.
“Grizzly bear recovery should be viewed as a conservation success story,” Mead said in a statement.
A bid to remove protections for the region’s gray wolves ran into similar legal problems last decade. In that case, Congress intervened in 2011 to strip safeguards from the animals in Montana and Idaho through legislation, opening the way to public wolf hunts.
Pressure to lift protections on bears and allow hunting has increased in recent years as the number of conflicts between bears and people increased. Most of those conflicts involve attacks on livestock but occasionally bears attack people, such as a Wyoming hunting guide killed earlier this month by a pair of grizzly bears.
The ruling marks a victory for wildlife advocates and Native American tribes that sued when the Interior Department revoked federal protections. They argued that the animals face continued threats from climate change and loss of habitat.

Government Moved Too Hastily to Remove Protections

Tim Preso, an attorney with Earthjustice who represented many of the plaintiffs, said Christensen’s ruling made clear that the government had moved too hastily to remove protections because bears are absent from much of their historical range.

“Putting the blinders on to everything other than Yellowstone grizzlies was illegal. We tried to get them to put on the brakes, but they refused to do that.” — Tim Preso, an attorney with Earthjustice
“Putting the blinders on to everything other than Yellowstone grizzlies was illegal,” he said. “We tried to get them to put on the brakes, but they refused to do that.”
Hunting and agriculture groups and the National Rifle Association had intervened in the case seeking to keep management of grizzlies under state control.
Restoring protections will allow the grizzly population to grow unchecked, “endangering the lives and livelihoods of westerners who settled the region long ago,” said Cody Wisniewski, a lawyer for the Wyoming Farm Bureau, which represents farmers and cattle ranchers.
The grizzlies living in and around Yellowstone were classified as a threatened species in 1975 after most bears had been killed off early last century and the population was down to just 136 animals.

Yellowstone’s Grizzlies Are Now Thriving

Government biologists contend Yellowstone’s grizzlies are now thriving, have adapted to changes in their diet and are among the best-managed bears in the world.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Jennifer Strickland said the agency was reviewing Monday’s ruling but stood behind its decision to lift protections.
The agency initially declared a successful recovery for the Yellowstone population in 2007, but a federal judge ordered protections to remain while wildlife officials studied whether the decline of a major food source — whitebark pine seeds — could threaten the bears’ survival.
The Fish and Wildlife Service concluded last year it had addressed that and all other threats and said the grizzlies were no longer a threatened species requiring restrictive federal protections for them and their habitat.
That decision turned management of the bears over to the states, which agreed on a plan that set hunting quotas based on the number of deaths each year to ensure the population stays above 600 animals.
The federal agency has been moving toward lifting federal protections for another group of about 1,000 bears living in Montana’s Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, but it first wanted to see how Christensen ruled on the Yellowstone case.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Most Trump Tariffs Are Not Legal, US Appeals Court Rules

DON'T MISS

New $250 Visa Fee Risks Deepening US Travel Slump

DON'T MISS

Prime Minister of Yemen’s Houthi Government Killed in Israeli Strike

DON'T MISS

California Schools Reverse Truancy Trends. Improving Reading Scores Could Be Next

DON'T MISS

High-Speed Rail Hits a New Snag as Lawmakers Reject Proposal to Expedite Construction

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Garnet Fire Expands to 17,561 Acres, 8% Contained

DON'T MISS

Lawsuit Links CA Teen’s Suicide To Artificial Intelligence

DON'T MISS

Fresno Spotlight: Lawsuit in Killing of Homeless Man by Deputies Will Go to Trial

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Needs Election Workers for November Redistricting Vote. Apply Now

DON'T MISS

Hearing Ends Without Ruling On Trump’s Firing Of Fed Governor Cook

UP NEXT

Lawsuit Links CA Teen’s Suicide To Artificial Intelligence

UP NEXT

Hearing Ends Without Ruling On Trump’s Firing Of Fed Governor Cook

UP NEXT

Gov. Newsom Launches New Task Force To Clear CA Homeless Encampments

UP NEXT

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Law Redrawing Congressional Maps

UP NEXT

US Republican Senator Joni Ernst Will Not Run for Re-Election, CBS News Reports

UP NEXT

Trump Moves to Permanently Cancel Funding in Rare Move Around Congress

UP NEXT

US Denies Visas to Palestinian Officials Ahead of UN General Assembly

UP NEXT

Trump Ends Security Protection for Former Vice President Harris, Senior White House Official Says

UP NEXT

Trump Signs Order to End Collective Bargaining With Some Federal Unions

UP NEXT

Minneapolis Children Revealed Courage, Absorbed Fear During Church Shooting

California Schools Reverse Truancy Trends. Improving Reading Scores Could Be Next

19 minutes ago

High-Speed Rail Hits a New Snag as Lawmakers Reject Proposal to Expedite Construction

29 minutes ago

Fresno County Garnet Fire Expands to 17,561 Acres, 8% Contained

38 minutes ago

Lawsuit Links CA Teen’s Suicide To Artificial Intelligence

1 hour ago

Fresno Spotlight: Lawsuit in Killing of Homeless Man by Deputies Will Go to Trial

1 hour ago

Fresno County Needs Election Workers for November Redistricting Vote. Apply Now

1 hour ago

Hearing Ends Without Ruling On Trump’s Firing Of Fed Governor Cook

2 hours ago

Gov. Newsom Launches New Task Force To Clear CA Homeless Encampments

16 hours ago

Fresno Supervisor Nathan Magsig Says Crews Gaining Ground on Garnet Fire

16 hours ago

Judge Allows Release of Accused Arsonist Bobby Salazar on $1M Bond

17 hours ago

Most Trump Tariffs Are Not Legal, US Appeals Court Rules

NEW YORK — A divided U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican p...

52 seconds ago

President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. (Reuters File)
52 seconds ago

Most Trump Tariffs Are Not Legal, US Appeals Court Rules

Tourists and pedestrians walk down Pell Street in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, U.S., April 14, 2025. (Reuters File)
9 minutes ago

New $250 Visa Fee Risks Deepening US Travel Slump

Head of the Houthi-led government Ahmad al-Rahawi looks on during a visit by Houthi government officials to the Hamas office in Sanaa, Yemen August 19, 2024. (Reuters File)
12 minutes ago

Prime Minister of Yemen’s Houthi Government Killed in Israeli Strike

Students at Stege Elementary School complete classwork using tablets in Richmond on Feb. 6, 2023. Photo by Shelby Knowles for CalMatter
19 minutes ago

California Schools Reverse Truancy Trends. Improving Reading Scores Could Be Next

People listen during a hearing of the suspense file in the Assembly Appropriations Committee at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento on Aug. 29, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
29 minutes ago

High-Speed Rail Hits a New Snag as Lawmakers Reject Proposal to Expedite Construction

The lightning-sparked Garnet Fire in Fresno County has burned 17,561 acres since Aug. 24 and is 8% contained., officials said Saturday, August 30, 2025. (U.S. Forest Service)
38 minutes ago

Fresno County Garnet Fire Expands to 17,561 Acres, 8% Contained

1 hour ago

Lawsuit Links CA Teen’s Suicide To Artificial Intelligence

Court for the illegal use of weapons. Sentence for murder. Judge's gavel on wooden table. Judge, hammer, pistol on wooden background.
1 hour ago

Fresno Spotlight: Lawsuit in Killing of Homeless Man by Deputies Will Go to Trial

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend