A recent federal court ruling may delay plans to
declare grizzly recovery in Yellowstone a success. U.S. District
Judge Paul Friedman ruled Oct. 4 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service’s 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan lacks an adequate
yardstick for measuring recovery of the species, which gained
federal protection in 1975. Citing the plan’s failure to monitor
grizzly habitat, Friedman gave the Service 90 days to revise the
plan. Currently, recovery is measured by counts of females with
cubs and rates of human-caused deaths.
“If you
list a species because of habitat loss, you can’t write a recovery
plan that doesn’t address it,” says Eric Glitzenstein, an attorney
representing 20 environmental groups in the case. He predicts the
ruling will delay plans to remove the Yellowstone grizzly
population from the endangered species list, a move advocated by
the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The department maintains that
current population counts meet the recovery plan requirements.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has asked the
court to reconsider its ruling, claiming that Friedman misread the
plan, and that it actually meets his concerns. Glitzenstein warns
that without substantial changes in the plan, “the Service will be
buying itself more legal trouble.”
*Warren
Cornwall
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Grizzly plan sent back to drawing board.
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