EQUAL ACCESS
TO INJUSTICE
CONGRESS CREATED THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT TO GIVE EVERYDAY AMERICANS A FAIR SHOT IN COURT , BUT IT ’ S BEEN HIJACKED INTO A LAWSUIT FACTORY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS TO FUEL THEIR AGENDAS WITH TAXPAYER MONEY .
By the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation , a Sportsmen ’ s Alliance Partner
When the federal government listed grizzly bears as threatened in the Lower 48 under the newly minted Endangered Species Act ( ESA ) in 1975 , an estimated 136 grizzlies remained in the nearly 6-million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ( GYE ). Since female grizzlies don ’ t reproduce until they ’ re at least 4 years old and only have litters of two to three cubs every three years or so , extinction loomed as a real possibility . Over time , though , those protections worked .
By 2007 , U . S . Fish and Wildlife Service ( USFWS ) scientists estimated the GYE population had quadrupled to more than 500 bears and expanded its range by more than 50 percent . This exceeded all federal recovery criteria , and the USFWS removed the Yellowstone grizzly population from threatened status . In short , the ESA functioned exactly as it was designed .
Of course , the story didn ’ t end there . Environmentalists immediately sued , citing uncertainty regarding food sources . A judge agreed and returned them to fully protected status .
Subsequent research showed that the bears adapted well , overcame the perceived food challenges and continued to grow in numbers and range . In 2017 , citing an estimated population of 750 bears and further expansion of occupied range — again exceeding all delisting criteria — the Department of Interior removed grizzlies ’ threatened species status once more , returning management of the great bears to the three state wildlife agencies in the GYE .
Once again , a slew of environmental groups took their arguments to court . In 2018 , a federal judge cited technicalities and ordered the population relisted again . The federal government and states of Idaho , Montana and Wyoming intervened on behalf of delisting , and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation ( RMEF ) and the Sportsmen ’ s Alliance Foundation filed a brief in support of delisting to the Ninth Circuit of Appeals . However , the court upheld the relisting decision in July 2020 . In April 2021 , biologists from both the USFWS and Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee revised the estimated grizzly population in the GYE to upwards of 1,000 bears . That ’ s almost a tenfold increase from where the population stood when grizzlies were listed as threatened 46 years ago .
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