Missoula: Grizzly bear delisting at center of 6 lawsuits in U.S. District Court Thursday

Grizzly bear advocates are descending on Missoula in advance of Thursday’s trial hearing on the delisting of the Yellowstone grizzly. On Tuesday, at an event sponsored by the Grizzly Times, a wildlife protection group, several advocates from writers to scientists met to explain why they oppose both the delisting and Wyoming’s upcoming grizzly bear hunt. The main concern expressed was that the Yellowstone grizzly population is too small to survive for long on its own due to inbreeding, and the population is likely to get smaller because of human conflicts and trophy hunting. The estimated population is hovering around 700 bears. Biologist David Mattson said that as 90 percent of whitebark pine populations in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem have been wiped out by climate change, bears have moved from eating pine seeds to eating more meat, and that has put them in greater conflict with livestock producers and hunters. At the same time, the Yellowstone grizzly population has failed to grow.The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee worked for a number of years to delist the Yellowstone population, declaring it recovered in 2008. But in 2009, Missoula U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ordered the USFWS suspend its delisting and study further the effect of the loss of whitebark pine seeds from grizzly bears’ diet. Mattson’s research was integral to Molloy’s decision. Their study complete, the IGBC again prepared to delist the bear only to have Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke step in last June and declare the bear recovered...MORE