The federal government has canceled a series of public meetings that was planned on a new bid to manage grizzly bears.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had planned four meetings — including one that was set for Wednesday in Coeur d’Alene — to discuss the agency’s proposal to manage grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states as a single distinct population segment under the Endangered Species Act.
The rule was proposed by the Biden Administration in early January. In a statement posted to its grizzly rulemaking webpage, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it canceled the meetings to allow the Trump administration to review the rule.
“In light of the recent transition and the need for this Administration to review the recent grizzly bear proposed rule, the Service is canceling all four of the public meetings and hearings that the agency voluntarily scheduled on this proposal,” the statement says.
Grizzly bears have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1975. Biologists estimate there are about 2,000 of them, mostly split between large populations in and around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks. There is a small population that spends time in the Selkirk Mountains of North Idaho and northeastern Washington.
Delisting attempts in the past have focused primarily on individual subpopulations of grizzlies. The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed delisting the Yellowstone bears in the past, most recently under the first Trump administration in 2017. That effort was stopped by a lawsuit from environmental groups who argued the bears still face significant threats.
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s rule proposal earlier this month was a response to petitions filed by the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming that urged the agency to remove grizzly protections, which would give states greater management authority over them.
The proposal batted down those efforts, electing to maintain protections for the bears while creating a new paradigm for grizzly management – one in which the Lower 48 grizzlies are managed as a single unit rather than a series of subpopulations.
It also came with changes meant to give landowners and state wildlife officials more flexibility in dealing with human-bear conflicts.
A public comment period was opened on the proposal, and the agency had planned to take public comment at the four meetings, the first of which was originally planned for Tuesday in Missoula. In addition to the Coeur d’Alene meeting, there was a virtual one set for Friday and a final meeting planned for Cody, Wyo., next month.
The public comment period is open until March 17.
