December 9, 2024 |
Photo – Bigfoot file photo
On Friday, Governor Mark Gordon responded to a court order from U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson’s that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service make a final determination on Wyoming’s petition to delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly within 45 days.
The governor regards the court order that the feds respond to Wyoming’s petition for delisting as favorable to the state.
Wyoming’s petition to delist was submitted in January 2022, nearly three years ago, after the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population was determined to be recovered in the region under the Endangered Species Act. The ESA provides that the USFWS shall make a determination on a delisting petition within 12 months of its receipt. After multiple months of missed deadlines under the Biden Administration leadership, Wyoming filed suit in May 2023, asking the court to order the Department of Interior to issue a final determination on Wyoming’s petition.
Governor Gordon said in a statement that the rightful management of the Greater Yellowstone grizzly population belongs with the states not with federal officials far removed from where the bears reside.
In his letter, the governor noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should not need a judge’s court order to meet a deadline. “We have known for years that Wyoming’s grizzly bears have exceeded population goals and the State has met recovery criteria time and time again.”
Governor Gordon said with the grizzly bear population recovered, it is long past time management of the animal to be entrusted to the states.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service likes to report that prior to 1800, some 50,000 grizzly bears roamed 18 western states, including Wyoming. By 1975, grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states, federal wildlife official estimate without offering proof on their website, that the population had been reduced to no more than 800. One of six recovery zones identified in the 1993 document, was the so-called “GYE,” covering the Greater Yellowstone Region in northwest Wyoming, eastern Idaho and southwestern Montana.
