Back to Court For Grizzly Recovery

by Caroline Byrd

In the fall of 1995, WOC and 18 other national and regional conservation groups won a decisive court victory on behalf of the grizzly bear. The federal district court held that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS’s) 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan was deficient in a number of ways and did not adequately protect the bear.

The judge ordered the USFWS to revise the Recovery Plan to make it comply with the Endangered Species Act. Among the required revisions, the USFWS was supposed to adopt an accurate method for measuring grizzly bear populations, gain a better understanding of the impacts of genetic isolation, explain how it was monitoring mortalities and disease and justify its reliance on Canadian bears to sustain bear populations in the United States.

The USFWS has yet to begin to meet any of the deadlines for revision set by the court. On February 5, 1999, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed a motion to force the agency to comply with the 1995 court order.

Meanwhile, the USFWS, under the auspices of grizzly bear recovery coordinator, Chris Servheen, has publicly and consistently advocated the de-listing of the grizzly bear. It is unfortunate that the agency, driven by political expediency, is pushing for removing protection for the bear before it has even attempted to fulfill the requirements of the court’s order and the Endangered Species Act. The USFWS’s position forces conservation groups to turn again to the courts for relief.

WOC believes that the USFWS must answer the basic questions of how many bears we have and how much habitat is needed for recovery before forging ahead to de-list them. Key grizzly bear habitat in Wyoming is on the block for oil and gas development. We’re seeing more and more motorized recreation, timber sales, dude ranch and resort expansions, major highway projects and road construction throughout Wyoming’s portion of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We cannot afford to lose these crucial areas while the government drags its feet and resists addressing the deficiencies of the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan.