A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Trump administration is proposing a change to how one of America's most iconic wildlife species are managed - the grizzly bear. But what exactly the administration is proposing is not clear. Here's Wyoming Public Radio's Hanna Merzbach.
HANNA MERZBACH, BYLINE: In 1975, it's estimated there are fewer than a thousand grizzly bears in the U.S. outside Alaska. That year, they were protected under the Endangered Species Act. And now there are about 2,000, and they're showing up in places they haven't been seen in in a hundred years.
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MARK GORDON: When you have bears showing up in corn mazes, it means that they are recovered.
MERZBACH: That's Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon at a very windy press conference yesterday near Yellowstone National Park. That area is home to about half the grizzlies outside Alaska. He and the governors of Montana and Idaho, which also share the park, have said for years that grizzlies are now recovered and no longer need Endangered Species Act protection.
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GORDON: It is important to recognize when success happens.
MERZBACH: Joining them was Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who said state leaders, not Interior, should manage grizzlies here. He said explicitly that grizzlies will remain protected by the Endangered Species Act, but what exactly state management means is still murky. Details of his proposal were not published at the time of the press conference. Yesterday, environmental groups said Burgum's proposal is unclear to them. But...
JENNY HARBINE: They're not allowed to declare that a species has recovered because it is politically convenient.
MERZBACH: Jenny Harbine, an attorney with Earthjustice in Montana, says she wants to know more.
HARBINE: Recovery is not just about headcounts. A population can meet some numeric targets but remain vulnerable if they're isolated and if they don't have adequate habitat protections.
MERZBACH: Harbine says habitat's threatened by development and climate change and that grizzly populations remain genetically isolated. She argues they need more federal protections, not less.
Secretary Burgum says, quote, "under the leadership of President Trump, we're following the science, upholding the law and ending politics masquerading as conservation."
In 2017, the first Trump administration attempted to remove Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone-area grizzlies. That would've allowed hunting. The federal courts blocked that and litigation continues. Details of the new proposal could be published in the federal register as soon as today. Then a 30-day public comment period starts.
For NPR News, I'm Hanna Merzbach. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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