Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Delisting
Submitted by Ted Williams on Thu, 03/22/2007 - 12:00.
Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Delisting Shows Endangered Species Act Success “Americans favor keeping strong safety net for
Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Delisting
Submitted by Ted Williams on Thu, 03/22/2007 - 12:00.
Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Delisting Shows Endangered Species Act Success “Americans favor keeping strong safety net for imperiled wildlife” Washington, DC (March 22) – “Yellowstone grizzly bear recovery is the best kind of proof that the Endangered Species Act is effective in protecting wildlife for our children’s future,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO, National Wildlife Federation. “The nation’s safety net for imperiled wildlife works, and the American people want it to stay that way.” Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that Yellowstone grizzlies are being removed from the list of species requiring the intensive care provided by the Endangered Species Act. “The Endangered Species Act charted the path for the Yellowstone grizzly bear recovery,” said Tom France, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Northern Rockies Natural Resource Center in Missoula, MT. “Conserving imperiled wildlife is one of our greatest responsibilities as stewards of the land,” France said. “We can all celebrate that, thanks to the Endangered Species Act, our children and grandchildren will be able to see wild grizzlies in Yellowstone, something we could not have promised 30 years ago.” “A key Endangered Species Act objective is to achieve self-sustaining populations in the wild,” explained Steve Torbit, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Rocky Mountain Natural Resource Center in Boulder, CO. “That objective has been achieved in Yellowstone, where the recovery goals for number of grizzlies, their distribution and mortality have been met or exceeded,” Torbit said. The 1993 Yellowstone grizzly bear plan defined three specific recovery benchmarks that have all been achieved, qualifying bears for release from the Endangered Species Act’s emergency room protections:? Population Recovery Goal: The grizzly population must contain at least 15 adult females with cubs. Fact on the ground: The average over the past six years has been 40 female grizzlies with cubs. In 2002, 52 females with cubs were observed. Since the 1980s the population has been growing 4-to-7 percent annually, thanks to efforts to reduce human-caused mortality t