Grizzly Bear Recovery
Yellowstone Ecosystem
photo credit National Park Service
Recent News:
May 21, 2013 - The Service is providing the public an additional 30 days to review and comment on the Draft Revised Supplement to the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan in the Greater Yellowstone Area. Previously submitted comments do not have to be resubmitted because they have been incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in our final Supplement.
- Federal Register: May 21, 2013 Draft Revised Supplement to the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan; Extension of Public Comment Period
March 21, 2013 - The Service is requesting public review and input on Proposed Revisions to the Demographic Recovery Criteria for the Grizzly Bear Population in the Greater Yellowstone Area (Federal Register 78 FR 17708). These proposed revisions and supporting documents are listed below:
- Proposed Revisions to Demographic Recovery Criteria
- Associated Application Protocol for Proposed Demographic Recovery Criteria
- Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team's Workshop Report
- Background on USFWS suitable habitat
Public comments may be submitted to the Grizzly Bear Recovery Office at the address below until June 20, 2013:
Attention: GYA demographic criteria
USFWS
University Hall, Room 309
Missoula, Montana 59812
Electronic comments may be sent directly to yellowstonegrizzlyplan@fws.gov
November 15, 2011 – The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming in part and reversing in part the district court’s decision vacating the final rule delisting grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Area. The Appellate court affirmed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s determination that existing regulatory mechanisms are adequate to protect grizzlies in the Yellowstone area while ruling that the Service had failed to adequately explain its conclusion that the loss of whitebark pine was not a threat to the population. In compliance with this order, the Greater Yellowstone Area population of grizzly bears remains federally listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act while we consider more recent scientific data.
September 21, 2009 – The Federal District Court in Missoula issued an order vacating the delisting of the Greater Yellowstone Area grizzly population. In compliance with this order, the Yellowstone grizzly population was once again a threatened population under the Endangered Species Act (75 FR 14496, March 26, 2010). The District Court ruled that the Service was arbitrary and capricious in its evaluation of white bark pine and that the regulatory mechanisms identified in the final rule were not adequate because they were not legally enforceable.
March 22, 2007 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the Greater Yellowstone Area population of grizzly bears was recovered and should be removed from the Federal list of threatened and endangered species.
Maps
- Yellowstone Distinct Population Segment (DPS) area (March 2007)
- Primary Conservation Area for Grizzly Bears in the Greater Yellowstone Area
- Bear Management Units and Subunits
- Areas Where Food Storage Orders Apply on the GYA National Forests
- Final Conservation Strategy for the Grizzly Bear in the Yellowstone Area (March 2007)
- Appendices A-J - Conservation Strategy Appendices (March 2007)
- Appendix K - Montana Grizzly Bear Management Plan
- Appendix L - Wyoming Grizzly Bear Management Plan
- Appendix M - Idaho Grizzly Bear Management Plan
- Appendix N - Reassessing Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear
- Appendix O - Supplement to Reassessing Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear (6/2006)
- Forest Plan Amendments for Grizzly Bear Conservation for the Greater Yellowstone Area National Forests Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) (July 2004)
- Forest Plan Amendment for Grizzly Bear Habitat Conservation for the Greater Yellowstone Area National Forests Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (April 2006)
- Final Biological Assessment for the Forest Plan Amendments for Grizzly Bear Conservation for the Greater Yellowstone Area National Forests (September 2005)
Demographic Recovery Criteria Revised Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits
- Reassessing Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear
- Supplement to Reassessing Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear (June 2006)
- Non-technical Summary of Revised Methods (January 2007)
Federal Register Notices
Habitat-based Recovery Criteria
- Federal Register Notice of public workshop to obtain input for the development of habitat-based recovery criteria for the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis). (62 FR 19777) (4/23/1997)
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability of draft habitat-based criteria for the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) for review and comment (64 FR 38464) (7/16/1999)
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability of Habitat-based and Demographic recovery criteria to be appended to the 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan (72 FR 11376) (3/13/2007)
Supplemental Information
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability of draft supplemental information regarding the Recovery Plan for the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) for review and comment (62 FR 47677) (9/10/1997)
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability for supplemental information regarding the Recovery Plan for the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis). (64 FR 38465) (7/16/1999)
Conservation Strategy
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability of draft Conservation Strategy for the grizzly bear in the Yellowstone ecosystem. (65 FR 11340) (3/2/2000)
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability of Final Conservation Strategy for the grizzly bear in the Yellowstone Area. (72 FR 11376) (3/13/2007)
Revised Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability of Draft Document Reassessing Methods to Estimate Population Size and Sustainable Mortality Limits for the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Population (70 FR 70632)
- Federal Register Notice of document availability. Availability of Habitat-based and Demographic recovery criteria to be appended to the 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan. (72 FR 11376) (03/13/2007)
Rule Making
- Federal Register Proposed Action. Proposed Rule Designating the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Population of Grizzly Bears as a Distinct Population Segment; Removing the Yellowstone Distinct Population Segment of Grizzly Bears from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (70 FR 69854) (11/17/2005)
- Notice of additional public hearing on Proposed Rule (71 FR 4097) (1/25/2006)
- Notice of extension of comment period on Proposed Rule (71 FR 8251) (2/16/2006)
- Final Rule Designating the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Population of Grizzly Bears as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and Removing the Yellowstone DPS of Grizzly Bears from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (72 FR 14866) (03/29/2007)
- Reinstatement of Protections for the Grizzly Bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Compliance With Court Order (75 FR 14496) (March 26, 2010)
