Safari Club International (SCI) commends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for announcing a new rule that gives Western states greater authority to manage expanding grizzly bear populations while maintaining the species' long-term conservation success. While the rule does not yet allow for regulated hunting to fully manage expanding bear populations, it represents an important first step for proper administration of the Endangered Species Act.
The new rule relies on Section 4(d) of the ESA, which authorizes the Service to adopt regulations that are "necessary and advisable" for the conservation of threatened-listed species, including grizzly bears. Historically, the Service has used this authority primarily to restrict the take of listed species. Under the new rule, however, the Service is using its Section 4(d) authority to provide states with additional management tools and flexibility to address the challenges associated with long-recovered and expanding grizzly bear populations.
Grizzly bears represent one of the greatest wildlife recovery success stories in North America. Across much of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, populations have not only met recovery objectives but significantly exceeded them. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, for example, grizzly bear numbers have nearly doubled recovery benchmarks and expanded into habitats beyond those originally identified in recovery zones.
While this conservation success should be celebrated, it has also created new management challenges. As grizzly bear populations continue to expand, communities throughout the Northern Rockies have experienced increased conflicts involving livestock depredation, damage to property, threats to public safety, and encounters in residential areas. State wildlife agencies, which are closest to these on-the-ground realities, have repeatedly sought additional authority to respond to these conflicts in a timely and effective manner.
The Service's new rule recognizes that successful conservation does not end with population recovery. Rather, it requires adaptive management strategies that enable state wildlife professionals to balance species conservation with the needs of local communities, landowners, livestock producers, hunters, and outdoor recreationists. By providing greater management flexibility, the rule will help reduce human-bear conflicts, increase public tolerance for grizzly bears, and encourage continued conservation success across the West.
"With this rule, the Service has finally embraced Section 4(d) of the ESA," said SCI CEO W. Laird Hamberlin. "States with long track records of recovering grizzly bears should have the tools necessary to reduce human-bear conflicts while also incentivizing even more great conservation from these states. SCI applauds the Service for finally adopting a 4(d) rule that is necessary and advisable for effective grizzly bear management, and encourages the Service to build on this rule to recognize the recovered status of grizzly bears through delisting."