Former U.S. Fish & Wildlife Grizzly Coordinator updates his own 30-year-old Recovery Plan 

Media Contact:

Maggie Caldwell, 347-527-6397, mcaldwell@earthjustice.org

Washington, D.C. – Today 15 national, regional and state environmental, tribal, and animal welfare groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to adopt a new approach to recovering grizzly bears in the U.S. Northern Rockies, pointing to a new science-based report by Dr. Christopher Servheen, the former USFWS Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator (1981-2016). The petition comes about a month ahead of the USFWS’ deadline to make a decision on delisting the bears. 

Earthjustice drafted the petition which asks the Service to update its Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan to incorporate the points raised in Dr. Servheen’s new report, which details site-specific management actions to aid in the bears’ recovery. Dr. Servheen led the team that wrote the existing recovery plan for grizzly bears in 1993, and is now calling for this work to be updated with the best available science and latest conservation practices. Dr. Servheen says the new management approach would give bears a chance at a durable recovery. 

“The grizzly bears in the Northern U.S. Rockies live in only 4% of their former range in the lower 48 states,” said Dr. Christopher Servheen. “Grizzly presence is part of what makes this part of America so special. We should choose a careful management approach that will assure the future for these magnificent animals because they are an important part of the heritage of the American West.” 

The petition and recovery plan updates come during a record-breaking deadly year for grizzlies. Seventy-three grizzly bears have been killed in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem alone. Throughout the U.S. Northern Rockies, at least 90 grizzly bears have died this year due to human causes. In his paper, Dr. Servheen highlights a number of mounting threats to grizzlies, including: 

• Increased human development and encroachment into grizzly territory;
• New state laws and policies that are lethal to grizzlies and other carnivores;
• The ongoing harms from climate change on grizzly bears and their habitats; 
• Other land uses that are bringing grizzlies into more contact with humans and livestock. 

Dr. Servheen’s proposed updates to the 1993 Recovery Plan include the following revisions:

• A switch from management of the Northern Rockies bears in five distinct and isolated populations to a single, interconnected metapopulation of grizzlies across the region;
• New protections for grizzlies against potentially lethal human activities;
• Protections for grizzly habitat and careful mortality management in connectivity areas between ecosystems;
• Policies that reduce human/bear conflicts through increasing resources and assistance for communities;
• Reliable commitments from state and federal agencies to maintain grizzly and habitat protections after delisting. 

Earthjustice led the petition effort, submitting it on behalf of the following 14 groups:

• Center for Biological Diversity
• Endangered Species Coalition
• Friends of the Bitterroot
• Friends of the Clearwater
• Great Bear Foundation
• Humane Society of the United States
• Humane Society Legislative Fund
• Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment
• Park County Environmental Council
• Sierra Club
• Western Watersheds Project
• WildEarth Guardians
• Wyoming Wildlife Advocates
• Yaak Valley Forest Council

“Grizzlies need a new vision for recovery that incorporates the latest science and conservation practices,” said Mary Cochenour, senior attorney in Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies office. “Grizzly bears have not achieved recovery under the old 1993 plan because it could not have anticipated the level of modern-day human encroachment in grizzly habitat, nor did the 1993 plan foresee the recent enactment of state and federal regulations and policy that continue to undermine recovery efforts.” 

Reporter Resource:

• Published report and petition available here: https://earthjustice.org/grizzly

Petitioners’ Statements

“The science clearly shows that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s management of grizzly bears in fragmented, isolated populations won’t lead to long-term and sustainable recovery, so we have to be bolder and do better. We need to protect grizzly habitat and connectivity corridors to bridge isolated populations and ensure that these bears survive for generations to come.” – Andrea Zaccardi, Carnivore Conservation Legal Director, Center for Biological Diversity. 

“Grizzlies are not just a symbol of our Western heritage; they are a keystone species that plays a critical role in maintaining the health of ecosystems. Now is the time for a new, science-based recovery plan that will connect isolated populations and support people coexisting with grizzlies.” – Susan Holmes, Executive Director, Endangered Species Coalition  

“After a few decades of implementing the old recovery plan, the Fish and Wildlife Service has accomplished practically nothing for the grizzly population in the Bitterroot Recovery Zone. Grizzly bears deserve a new plan, something that provides real habitat security so their population can sustain.” –Jeff Juel, Forest Policy Director, Friends of the Clearwater

“With advances in our understanding of grizzly bear population dynamics and how people and bears can coexist for the benefit of both species, the time is ripe to update the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan to reflect the best available science. Grizzlies are a critical part of a healthy, connected landscape, and this petition gives the Lower 48 populations the best shot at recovering in a meaningful and sustainable way. Grizzly bears belong on this landscape—we want to make sure they continue to exist now and into the future.” – Shannon Donahue, Executive Director, Great Bear Foundation

“Grizzly bears, valuable symbols of wildness, must be conserved for future generations. We know that Americans overwhelmingly support safeguarding grizzly bears from cruelty, including by trophy hunters. Because extinction is forever, we must prioritize science over politics. It can take 10 years for one grizzly mother to replace herself in a population. It’s time for decision makers to heed the call to ensure these iconic animals thrive, not vanish.” – Wendy Keefover, Senior Strategist of Native Carnivore Protection, Humane Society of the United States

“For years, HSLF has fought for grizzly bears by pressing the federal government to uphold protections for this irreplaceable species. A more than 30-year-old recovery plan could not have accounted for the imminent threats facing grizzly bears today, including trophy hunting, human development and undue political pressures. It is long overdue that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service updates this outdated plan to protect grizzlies for decades to come.” – Brianna DelDuca, Regulatory Specialist, Humane Society Legislative Fund

“As a member of the Nez Perce Tribe and the coordinator of our Nez Perce Tribal member-run non-profit, I and our board believe that protections for grizzly bears should and need to continue. As our people (Nimiipuu) and grizzlies and other species have lived together in our Treaty area and beyond with little harm to either, we now see how the migration westward and introduction of cattle and development of habitat critical to grizzly bears has negatively impacted this critical species. As the grizzly is part of our history, culture and ceremonies we support the further protection of grizzlies.” – Julian Matthews, Board Member & Coordinator, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment

“This petition recognizes that we need to have a real recovery of grizzly bears, not delisting that would open them up to large-scale killing and reverse decades of conservation work. The science is clear that we need a healthy population of grizzly bears throughout these public lands in the Northern Rockies to achieve a sustained recovery. Grizzly bears are so sensitive to mortality that delisting could very well be their demise. Now is the time to strengthen protections for this iconic species, not put a target on them.” – Ben Greuel, National Wildlife Campaign Manager, Sierra Club

“We must approach the grizzly bear with humility; afterall, being in their presence is a humbling experience. In Park County, situated in the northern Yellowstone ecosystem, we have an intimate relationship with grizzly bears. We have been able to witness their ongoing recovery firsthand. While we have much to celebrate in that regard, we believe there is still more work that needs to be done, like updating the 30-year old recovery plan with the latest scientific findings, and establishing a meta population in the northern Rockies that would truly constitute proof of the grizzly’s recovery.” – Max Hjortsberg, Managing Director, Park County Environmental Council

“Given that our knowledge of grizzly bears has expanded significantly, particularly regarding the importance of habitat connectivity, it is absolutely crucial that recovery planning reflects and incorporates what is now the best and most up-to-date science. With growing anti-predator hostility from states and an alarming uptick in human-caused grizzly deaths – due largely to conflict with livestock –  an update to the 30 year old plan is critical for long-term recovery.”  

– Patrick Kelly, Montana & Washington Director, Western Watersheds Project

“Grizzly bear recovery in the region will fail if they do not have secure habitats for safe passage as they disperse in search of food, dens and mates. Current rules already allow state governments in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho to kill grizzly bears, even as they face numerous other threats in the region. As we saw with the tragic vehicular death of bear #399 – arguably the most famous grizzly bear in the world, these bears need more protection, not less.” – Adam Rissien, ReWilding Manager, WildEarth Guardians. “

“Those who are blind to the threats that grizzly bears are facing will say that the goalposts for recovery keep moving. The truth is that science is not static, it’s dynamic. We know a lot more than we did 30 years ago. As conditions change and we collect additional data, our knowledge becomes greater. Conditions in 1993 were vastly different than they are now. Updating the recovery plan should be a priority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before any decisions about recovery are made.” – Kristin Combs, Executive Director, Wyoming Wildlife Advocates 

Additional organizational media contacts:

Andrea Zaccardi, 303-854-7748, azaccardi@biologicaldiversity.org 

Adam Rissien, 406-370-3147, arissien@wildearthguardians.org 

Kristin Combs, 307-413-4116, kristin@wyowild.org

Patrick Kelly, 208-576-4314, patrick@westernwatersheds.org 

Jeff Juel, 509-688-5956, jeffjuel@wildrockies.org

The post ‘Grizzly Bears Not Recovered’ Says Leading Biologist, 15 Regional & National Groups Petition for New Recovery Vision appeared first on Endangered Species Coalition.

“In the aftermath of the United States 2024 elections, one reality remains unchanged – human activities are driving over one million species to extinction,” said Susan Holmes, executive director. “President-Elect Trump and the new Senate majority are no friends to wildlife. Mr. Trump and his allies have stated that they will seek to end protections for vulnerable species like wolves and grizzlies and open up essential habitats to oil and gas development. We will do all we can to stop President-Elect Trump’s extinction agenda before cherished plant and animal species are lost forever.”

In its first 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has saved 99% of the species it protected from extinction. As human-driven habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and direct overexploitation of wildlife increase worldwide, transformative changes across economic, technological, social, and political factors are needed to halt the ongoing global extinction crisis.

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Your $25 gift puts FIVE plants in the ground to save pollinators and show your support as a Pollinator Protector!

For the eighth consecutive year, the Endangered Species Coalition is organizing plantings at sites around the United States to help bring these plants–and pollinators–back.

Can you support this work? $25 will cover all of the costs to put FIVE plants in the ground. Your donation of $50 will mean that ten plants that are not there today, will be soon.

It is crucial to the health of pollinators that these plants be local, native species. In the weeks and months ahead, your donation will be used to purchase native plants from local nurseries and seed distributors. Milkweed and other native nectar and host plants will be planted to support the conservation of monarch butterflies and other native pollinators, including bees, birds, bats, and others.We will support our planting partners with necessary supplies and materials to realize these projects Please support our Pollinator Protectors campaign with a gift of $25 or any amount today.

Support the Pollinator Protectors

This year, planting sites range from Oregon to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington DC and other US states. The incredible work you support not only achieves the direct impact of providing needed plants for bats, bees, butterflies, and birds, it is done in collaboration with local communities who care about native plants and pollinators. Being a Pollinator Protector means empowering people to transform local spaces for community well-being and the health of native pollinators.  

Putting your hands into the earth and bringing a plant into the world is among the most rewarding and educational ways for new conservationists to save species. Seeing seeds or plugs become plants that attract pollinators is an immediate reward and encourages future acts of service. Please support our Pollinator Protectors campaign by funding a single plant or an entire garden with a tax-deductible donation today.

Thank you for your commitment to wildlife and wild places.

Sincerely,

Susan Holmes
Executive Director
Endangered Species Coalition
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PS. Links not working? Please support the Pollinator Protectors at this URL: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2024planting

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Tell your member of Congress to support the bipartisan Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act.

This bill will ban the use of vehicles (snowmobiles or otherwise) to intentionally kill wildlife on federal lands managed by the Department of Interior. It comes in response to Wyoming’s failure to act in response to the torture and killing of a wolf in the state¹ earlier this year.

Tell Congress to pass this law to protect wolves, coyotes, and other wildlife from being killed by snowmobiles.

You likely remember the horrific incident in Wyoming where a Wyoming cattle rancher and trophy hunter ran down a young wolf who later came to be called Thiea, took her–in her injured but still-living state–to a bar where he paraded her around before shooting her to death behind the bar. This sociopathic conduct should not be permissible anywhere. But the state of Wyoming chose to protect the legal right to kill wildlife with snowmobiles² in its only official response.

If Wyoming and other states in the Northern Rockies where “wolf whacking” (running wolves down with snowmobiles) choose not to act, Congress must do what they won’t or can’t. This legislation is a strong step in that direction. It would criminalize “wolf whacking” on lands managed by the Department of Interior. Again, it has bipartisan support and the backing numerous conservation and animal welfare organizations.

Congress should act to prevent this and similar anti-conservation acts of violence by passing the Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act promptly–before snow falls again in the Northern Rockies and more wolves and coyotes are senselessly slaughtered. Please ask your U.S. Representative to support this legislation.

Sincerely,

Susan Holmes
Executive Director
Endangered Species Coalition
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PS. Are the links not working? Please take action at this URL: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-ban-killing-wildlife-with-snowmobiles

1. https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/fight-for-justice-protecting-wolves-like-theia-from-brutalities-in-wyoming

2. https://www.buffalobulletin.com/news/article_e1d48b10-80fa-11ef-bc53-4387e0d8430b.html

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The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) has lost its way on wolf protection. The agency recently announced that it was joining with the National Rifle Association and a trophy-hunting lobbyist group in going to court once again to defend the Trump Administration’s nationwide delisting of gray wolves.

Make a tax-deductible gift today to hold the USFWS responsible for doing the work.

This whiplash decision after they announced a year ago they will create a national wolf recovery plan is troubling. And the Administration’s partnership with groups who routinely oppose conservation and wildlife protections is a grave concern.

The path that the agency is choosing would give up on what has been one of the world’s greatest conservation successes. We should all beam with pride at bringing wolves back from the edge of extinction.We began to right a wrong and have made real progress. But that work is nowhere near complete.

Wolves have been restored to a fraction of their former range. By the most forgiving interpretation, wolves occupy less than 10% of their former habitat.¹ That success rate would not be acceptable in any other place in any other job and it is not acceptable here. The agency can’t just move on because they do not want to do the work.

What the USFWS is saying is that wolves no longer need the protections of the Endangered Species Act, now that they believe that they have recovered in three states: Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. While we question their assertion that wolves in those states should be without protections (and have fought to restore them), the suggestion that we can call this job done everywhere else is ridiculous. And they are making that argument in court, with the NRA and trophy hunting lobbyists, in defense of a Trump Administration rule that another court already overturned.

Keep the Endangered Species Coalition fighting for wolves until the job is finished with your gift today.

This Administration has made a number of curious and sometimes troubling decisions around endangered species protections. This decision is among the worst. By defending the Trump delisting rule that a court already rejected and overturned, the agency is paving the way for more wolf killing–wolves will die by bullet, trap, and brutal neck snares if the USFWS, NRA, and trophy hunters succeed.

Unlike the USFWS, we won’t quit on wolves. We hope you won’t either.Please make a gift today to keep the pressure on this once-proud agency to do the work.

Thank you for your commitment to wildlife and wild places.

Sincerely,

Susan Holmes
Executive Director
Endangered Species Coalition
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PS. Links not working? Please support our wolf-saving work at this URL: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/wolfusfws

1. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/gray_wolves/

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Washington, D.C. –  The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the bipartisan Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act (H.R. 8836/S.4953), sponsored by the U.S. Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and U.S. Senator Padilla (D-CA). The bill establishes a new program to provide financial and technical assistance to States, Tribes, and regional partnerships for the conservation of wildlife migration routes and connectivity. The bill would also direct the U.S. Geological Survey corridor mapping team to collaborate with States and Tribes to identify key sites along migratory pathways in need of habitat connectivity restoration. 

“Reconnecting wildlife habitat is key to recovering America’s most at-risk species,” said Susan Holmes, Executive Director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “By improving federal collaboration and technical assistance to protect wildlife migration and movement, this bill is a win for wildlife such as the ocelot in Texas, the Sonoran pronghorn in Arizona, and the California Tiger Salamander. The Endangered Species Coalition thanks our House leaders for holding a hearing on this bill and showing support across party lines.”

One in five of the migratory species on the UN’s global list are threatened with extinction, and of these, the North American species are experiencing faster declines than other regions. Many endangered species, such as the red wolf, Florida panther, ocelot, grizzly bear, and the red-cockaded woodpecker, struggle due to habitat fragmentation resulting from roads and poorly planned development. Connecting habitats by protecting corridors enables species to migrate, access resources for survival, and better adapt to changing landscapes and climate. International experts call for wildlife corridors as part of an integrated strategy to address both climate change and biodiversity loss.

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Help the Endangered Species Coalition work on the ground in Montana to establish new protections for wolves around Yellowstone National Park. Your gift today to keep wolves safe will be matched by a generous donor.

Wyoming and Idaho have rightfully received much of the recent attention for their gruesome wolf killing programs. The number of wolves in Idaho dropped by more than 10 percent last year–and the state intends to kill as many as 60 percent of its wolves–leaving just 500 in the whole state.

In Wyoming, wolves can be killed without limit in 85 percent of the state. These pro-killing policies encouraged the recent torture and killing of a wolf in that state. Her brutal death at the hands of a snowmobile rider who paraded her around a local pub before killing her behind the establishment may finally lead to a ban on intentionally killing animals with snowmobiles. But there is an enormous amount of resistance to that change and work to be done to achieve it.

Montana has done little to discourage similar intolerance and killing and is proposing allowing up to 334 wolves to be killed in the coming year, an increase of two dozen over last year.

Help us fight to stop the wolf killing regimes with a gift during our Summer Match Campaign. Your gift will be matched by a generous donor giving you twice the wolf-saving impact.

Our Montana Representative is working to protect wolves everywhere but the immediate need is keeping wolves safe around Yellowstone National Park. Last winter, 13 wolves were killed and three of Yellowstone’s 11 packs were torn apart.These wolves are national treasures who draw visitors from around the globe.

The Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park recently asked¹ the state of Montana to do more to keep wolves safe when they cross the invisible border and step out of the park. We are asking Montana to do even more to keep Yellowstone wolves safe and organizing supporters to pressure Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission to act. Yellowstone’s wolves–all wolves–deserve to live wild lives free of the gruesome threats of neck snares, indiscriminate traps, and trophy hunters.

Please make a gift today to help us continue to work to protect wolves and a generous donor will match it dollar for dollar doubling your impact up to our campaign goal of $30,000. We are almost halfway there and need your help to close that gap.

Thank you for your commitment to wildlife and wild places.

Sincerely,

Susan Holmes
Executive Director
Endangered Species Coalition
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PS. Are the links not working? Please make your gift at this URL: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/wolfmatch2024

1. https://wyofile.com/yellowstone-superintendent-seeks-hunting-relief-for-wolves-after-another-deadly-winter/

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Pete McCloskey, a Republican member of Congress, co-author of the Endangered Species Act, longtime Endangered Species Coalition supporter, and member of our Advisory Board, passed away on May 8th at the age of 94.

A liberal Republican who represented an area south of San Francisco for fifteen years, Pete rose to national prominence in 1969 as an opponent of the Vietnam War. Bold and visionary, the following year, he co-authored the Endangered Species Act (Rep. Dingell was lead and Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Fish and Wildlife; Pete was the Ranking member) and co-founded Earth Day. During his time in Congress he was a champion for many strong environmental laws, including the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.  

But what I love most about Pete is that he made protecting the environment and endangered species a winning political issue. In his first race – a special primary against the childhood actor Shirley Temple Black – Pete won by mobilizing young voters in support of open space protection and the environment.

I first met Pete when he came out of retirement in 2006 to run a campaign to unseat Representative Richard Pombo, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. Pombo had pledged to weaken the ESA and we knew that if he returned to Congress wildlife protections were on the chopping block. Although Pete lost the primary challenge to Pombo, he succeeded in winning 32% of the vote on a conservation platform. He went on to endorse Representative Jerry McNerney, a Democrat, who then defeated Pombo. The Sierra Club recognized Pete in 2006 for his work to unseat Pombo with their highest honor for public officials, the Edgar Wayburn Award.

Pete McCloskey wrote for the 40th Anniversary of the ESA, “…I consider co-authorship of the Endangered Species Act as the greatest contribution I have made in my lifetime to the welfare of this nation.” Thank you Pete! Endangered species, from alligators to whooping cranes, and all of us are so grateful for your life and legacy!

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