NCBA, PLC: Time to Delist Grizzly Bears from Endangered Species Act

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Public Lands Council say, “it’s time the grizzly bears are delisted,” from the Endangered Species Act. During a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing Wednesday, lawmakers discussed the Grizzly Bear State Management Act. Introduced last year by Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi, a Republican, the bill directs the Department of the Interior to re-issue its delisting decision and prohibits further judicial review of this decision.

Public Lands Council Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover said, “the Committee heard what ranchers across the West have known for years: grizzly bear populations are flourishing, which means the species no longer needs protection.”

Senator Enzi said the authority to manage the species needs to be turned over to the states. In 2017, the Fish and Wildlife Service removed the grizzly bear from the endangered species list, citing a significant increase in bear populations. In September 2018, a federal judge in Montana ruled to put the grizzly bear back on the endangered species list.

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