Grizzly panel told government can't meet judge's requirements for delisting

U.S. District Judge Don Molloy's decision returning some grizzly bears to Endangered Species Act protection could make it harder to keep the bears alive, members of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee learned Tuesday. "We could never achieve what he (Molloy) requires we do," federal grizzly recovery program coordinator Chris Servheen said during the committee's winter meeting in Missoula. "He said we must provide guarantees of the bear's survival, and the law doesn't say we can do that." Molloy's decision was specific to about 600 grizzly bears that live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in and around Yellowstone National Park. But the ruling could affect recovery plans for grizzlies in other mountainous regions of Montana, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming...read more