Idaho Governor Brad Little submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove grizzly bears in the “Lower 48” United States from the Endangered Species Act and recognize states’ successful efforts to recover and manage grizzly populations.
“Bureaucratic gridlock is keeping healthy grizzly populations on the threatened species list unnecessarily. When there’s no exit for healthy grizzly populations from the Endangered Species Act, it’s time to demand a reset,” Governor Brad Little said. “For decades, Idaho, our sister states, tribes, local governments – and especially our rural communities – have invested considerable resources in this effort, and they have shouldered much of the burden of rebuilding grizzly bear populations.”
Delisting is an important, and long overdue, recognition of these major roles Idaho and its neighboring states Montana, Wyoming and Washington have played in grizzly bear recovery by growing the population from a few hundred bears in 1975 to currently over 2,000 bears across four states. Grizzlies in the U.S. and Canada now number around 60,000 bears.
