The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has taken the first step in the process to address the court’s concerns to delist grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The Commission approved a revised tri-state Memorandum of Agreement regarding the management and allocation of discretionary mortality of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
The revised Memorandum of Agreement recognizes the expanding number of grizzly bears that have grown beyond the edges of the bear’s biological and socially suitable range. With refined population estimates, data shows the population numbers more than 1,000 bears, far beyond all scientific requirements for a recovered, viable population.
The revisions also include an explicit commitment to grizzly bear’s long-term genetic health and will provide for translocation of bears into the population, as needed, to maintain genetic diversity.
The Memorandum of Agreement will still need approval from Idaho and Montana through their respective Commissions and directors before Wyoming files a delisting petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
