Senate considers grizzly bear delisting
WASHINGTON D.C. (KIFI/KIDK)-The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee opened debate on a bill sponsored by Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi.
The bill, co-sponsored by Idaho Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, would remove the grizzly bear from the endangered species list in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). It would then permit states to manage the species.
The legislation, S614, is known as the Grizzly Bear State Management Act. The Senate Committee held a hearing on the measure Wednesday.
In a joint statement, Crapo and Risch claim the grizzly has met its recovery goals in the GYE.
“Unfortunately, activist litigation has created a cycle of keeping grizzly bears listed instead of working to recover them,” said Senators Risch and Crapo. “The Grizzly Bear State Management Act will restore Idaho’s ability to responsibly manage grizzly bears for recovery while accounting for the needs of the landscape and local communities.”
The grizzly was listed as a threatened species in 1975. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the population from the endangered species list in 2017. A federal judge in Montana put it back on the list in 2018. That decision was appealed by the state of Wyoming and in July of 2020 a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the bear’s continued protection.
