GRIZZLY
FUTURE
to block the delisting, arguing, in
part, that the government had not
looked closely enough at the impact the decline of the whitebark
pine would have on the bears. A
federal appeals court sided with
the environmentalists, finding
that the government had “failed to
adequately consider the impacts
of global warming and mountain
pine beetle infestation on the vitality of the region’s whitebark
pine trees.” Protections for the
bear were kept in place.
Now, however, the Fish and
Wildlife Service is again considering delisting the grizzly, a decision
HUFFINGTON
02.23.14
steeped in political controversy.
Removing the bears from the list
would be a signal that endangered
species protections work — that the
bears are a success story, brought
back from a population of just 136
in 1975 to more than 700 today. It
would also be a recognition of the
work that state land and wildlife
managers have put into bringing
the bears back from the brink.
“They’ve invested 30-some
years of effort to get to this point,”
said Christopher Servheen, the
grizzly b