MISSOULA, Mont.—In continuing its long-term relationship in Michigan, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation awarded more than $30,000 in grant funding to benefit elk, elk habitat and hunting programs in the Wolverine State.

“We are excited to make this funding as Michigan is celebrating 100 years of elk on the ground,” said Blake Henning, RMEF chief conservation officer. “The grants will benefit elk and other wildlife by improving habitat across the elk range.”

Michigan is home to more than 6,000 RMEF members and 19 chapters. RMEF volunteers raised the funds by hosting banquets, membership drives and other events.

“We can’t say enough about our volunteers,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “They provide their time, talents and abilities to further our conservation mission of ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat and our hunting heritage. We simply cannot do it without them.”

Here are RMEF’s 2018 projects in Michigan, listed by county: Read more

Michigan’s bear hunting seasons are almost here, with the first opening Sept. 10 in the Upper Peninsula, the Lower Peninsula’s first season starting Sept. 14 in select areas, and Sept. 16 for remaining locations below the bridge. Bear seasons have staggered openers with various locations and hunt periods. For each of the 2017 and 2018 hunting seasons, 7,140 bear licenses were available.

“Over half of the state is open to regulated bear hunting,” said Kevin Swanson, wildlife management specialist with the DNR’s bear and wolf program. “Hunters are an important part of managing the number of bear and where they are located, and they have been part of bear management in Michigan since 1925.”

Regulations governing how and when bear can be harvested are in place to sustainably manage the bear populations. “Regulations are how we control the take of bear, ensuring Michigan has a heathy population within suitable habitat. They are adjusted, if needed, every two years.

“We have the ability to influence the growth of bear populations in remote areas of Michigan. Habitat is not a limiting factor, but social tolerance has been reached in portions of the Lower Peninsula,” Swanson said. “We are discussing another increase in harvest in the northern Lower Peninsula.” Read more

A federal judge in Missoula, Mont., has taken a cautious approach to ruling in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear delisting. While perhaps overly cautious, the first order in the contentious case is temporary.

U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen issued a 14-day temporary restraining order halting grizzly bear hunting that was scheduled to begin on Sept. 1 in Idaho and Wyoming.

While the order halts any hunting of recently delisted grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in the two states, it is not a ruling on the merits of the case. The case itself is centered on whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2017 removal of grizzly bears in the GYE from the Endangered Species Act’s list of “threatened” species is lawful. In effect, the judge is taking more time to decide that question, and not allowing hunting to proceed while he makes that decision. At any point over the next two weeks, the judge could take several steps: make a ruling on the case, extend the temporary restraining order prohibiting hunting or terminate the order and reinstate the scheduled hunting seasons.

In issuing the temporary restraining order, Judge Christensen cites Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals precedent under which the irreparable harm necessary for issuance of temporary restraining order can be the death of a single member of the species, as opposed to harm at the population level.

“This is more red tape than it is scientific wildlife management. Every threshold for delisting has been met and surpassed, the distinct population clause of the Endangered Species Act has been upheld in court and the delisting and management of grizzly bears in Idaho and Wyoming won’t have any impact on separate and still-protected populations of grizzlies in northern Montana or Washington,” said Heusinkveld. “The bottom line is that Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzlies have recovered and are no longer in need of federal protections.” Read more