A plan to take Yellowstone’s grizzly bears off the endangered species list is so contentious it not only pits development interests against environmentalists but also has set environmentalists against one another. We are cautious supporters of the change.
The plan affects only grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park and adjacent national forests in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Bears in Alaska and other states are not affected.
Grizzly numbers in the Yellowstone area have risen dramatically from 200 when the species was listed as endangered three decades ago to about 600 today. And the population continues to grow 4 percent to 7 percent per year. That turnaround is remarkable, given that scientists used to fear that the species would vanish from the region.
The rebound is a success for the Endangered Species Act, and seen in that view, Yellowstone’s grizzlies should indeed come off the endangered list.
However, the real fight isn’t over “de-listing,” but about what happens next. Bears and other critters that depend on Yellowstone’s ecosystem still face tremendous hazards. For example, intensive oil and gas development in the southern part of the bears’ range could fragment habitat. As ranches are subdivided for houses the bears risk human encounters – and humans are responsible for half the 20 or so annual grizzly deaths in the Yellowstone area. By contrast, a grizzly hasn’t killed a person in the area since the 1980s. (Bears have killed people more recently in Alaska, but two infamous cases in 2003 were due to blatant human error.)
On paper, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has crafted reasonable plans to track Yellowstone’s grizzlies and prevent the bears from again becoming endangered. But bear lovers don’t trust the Interior Department to hold up its end of the deal.
If a species is listed as endangered, federal law gives citizens a clear ability to make the government enforce wildlife protection plans, by filing administrative appeals or taking the issue to federal court. Once the bear is taken off the list, the public will lose those tools and could find it much harder to prod Interior into protecting the bears and the ecosystem. De-listing the bear is a reasonable step, but only if the government honors its promises. The current plan lacks what the grizzly is famous for: teeth.
