Grizzly bears still need our help

What's At Stake

Grizzly bears need our help. Once roaming from the Pacific to the plains, grizzlies of the contiguous United States were hunted to near extinction and now only occupy approximately 4% of their historic range. In 1975, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed this population of bears under the Endangered Species Act to save them from extinction. These federal protections have been essential in fostering the slow recovery of grizzlies, however new regressive state anti-carnivore policies and rampant human development in their habitat threaten the lasting recovery of the bears. But the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is now considering the removal of crucial Endangered Species Act protections from grizzly bears.

We need your help to urge the Service to revise its 30-year-old grizzly recovery plan to incorporate the latest science and conservation practices and hold the states to lasting commitments to protect grizzlies and their habitat.

The states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have adopted anti-predator policies that introduced new killing mechanisms which create undue risks of harm and death to grizzlies. These states are also seeking delisting of grizzly bears from federal protections while advocating for policies that would undermine lasting recovery of the species.

Scientists agree that true recovery of grizzly bears requires a unified population that moves naturally through connectivity areas between ecosystems in the U.S Northern Rockies. Under the old recovery plan, grizzly bears are managed in five isolated recovery areas in the Northern Rockies. This revised plan focuses on connecting the existing habitats and managing bears as a unified population. This new, science-backed vision will be key to increasing grizzly bears’ resilience to genetic, demographic, and climate change threats.

Send a letter today to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to revise the 30-year-old grizzly plan to incorporate the latest science and conservation practices.

A pair of grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park (Todaysfotos / Shutterstock)
A pair of grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park. (Todaysfotos / Shutterstock)

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