How Is a Grizzly Bear Like a Wolf?

In 2007, Fish and Wildlife Service biologists concluded that the grizzly bear and its habitat in the Great Yellowstone area had recovered sufficiently for the animal to be taken off the endangered species list. As part of the de-listing process, the species was placed under state management, with a detailed plan that was approved and shaped by federal bear biologists. The bears were de-listed for two years. But as with the wolf, a coalition of environmentalists sued, saying that the state plan was inadequate. The group argued that the plan did not consider the rapid decline of the white bark pine, a food source for the bear, or have an adequate action plan should the bear population go into a nosedive. (The original listing under the Endangered Species Act, in 1975, occurred after Yellowstone Park closed its garbage dump and the bears went into precipitous decline.) As with the wolves, Judge Donald Molloy of United States District Court in Missoula, Mont., heard the case and found for the conservationists. The Fish and Wildlife Service has appealed, and a decision is expected any day now from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. To Chris Servheen, the grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service, the parallels with the wolf are eerie and maddening. It’s as the if conservationists have learned nothing, he suggests. “It is exactly the same people, the same lawyers, the same judge — it’s like Groundhog Day,” he said, referring to the Bill Murray movie in which the lead character has to relive the same day over and over again...more