The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current, August 01, 2017, Page 7, Image 7

August 2017
FEATURES
Dear EarthTalk: Is the federal
government’s decision to take
Yellowstone’s grizzlies off of the
endangered species list good news
or bad news for the iconic bear?
— Jeffrey Elder, Los Angeles, CA
It depends on who you ask.
The majority of environmental
and wildlife advocates would
prefer to keep endangered
species protections in place for
Yellowstone’s grizzlies, which
they consider to be still at risk.
Meanwhile, many ranchers, hunters
and libertarians applaud the Trump
administration’s decision to take
the fearsome predator off the list.
But why now? According to the
National Park Service, some 690
grizzly bears now roam the greater
Yellowstone ecosystem—up from
only 136 or so bears in 1975.
According to the park service,
“The number of females producing
cubs in the park has remained
relatively stable since 1996,
suggesting that the park may be at
or near ecological carrying capacity
for grizzly bears.”
Secretary of the Interior Ryan
Zin ke sai d he con s i dered t h e
delisting decision “very good
news for many communities and
a d v o c a t e s i n t h e Ye l l o w s t o n e
region” and “the culmination of
decades of hard work and dedication
on the part of state, tribal, federal
and private partners.”
But the non-profit Center for
Biological Diversity counters that
while grizzly bear numbers in
the greater Yellowstone area may
have improved since the animals
were first protected in 1975; the
bears continue to be isolated from
other grizzly populations and are
threatened by recent increases in
human-caused mortality.
Meanwhile, climate change and
invasive species have taken a huge
toll on two of the bears’ primary
food sources, whitebark pine seeds
and cutthroat trout, prompting the
bears to prey on livestock outside
national park borders, leading to
increased conflict with livestock
ranchers. The center maintains that
drought and climate change are
likely to worsen these problems.
Recent scientific data showing
a decline in the bears’ population
over the past two years as a result
of “managed kills” due to livestock
conflict, car crashes and poaching
support the center’s claims.
The group’s senior attorney,
Andrea Santarsiere, said that the
Trump administration’s real reason
for pushing the delisting is more
about appeasing trophy hunters
“who want to stick grizzly bear
heads on their walls” than about
concern over the health of iconic
American wildlife populations.
“This outrageously irresponsible
decision ignores the best available
science,” said Santarsiere. “Grizzly
conservation has made significant
strides, but the work to restore
these beautiful bears has a long
way to go.”
Overall, grizzlies now occupy less
than four percent of their historic
The Southwest Portland Post • 7
Yellowstone’s grizzly bear population has bounced back from dangerously low
numbers since the mid-1970s, but environmentalists think the iconic predator of the
American West still needs federal protections to be “out of the woods.”
(Photo by Christine Stephens, FlickrCC)
U.S. range. European settlement led
to the decimation of some 50,000
grizzlies that once roamed the
western half of the lower 48 states.
“It’s incredibly disturbing to
see the Trump administration
end protections for these
beloved Yellowstone bears even
as their numbers are falling,”
said Santarsiere. “This deeply
misguided decision just isn’t
supported by the science, so the
Trump administration may be
leaving itself vulnerable to a strong
legal challenge.”
While the Trump administration
has not commented to date about
delisting the other major population
of grizzlies in the lower 48 in and
around Montana’s Glacier National
Park, environmentalists worry that
it’s only a matter of time given the
relative population stability there
too.
Contacts: National Park Service
Grizzly Bear Ecology, www.nps.
gov/yell/learn/nature/gbearinfo.
htm; Center for Biological Diversity,
www.biologicaldiversity.org.
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