The federal government has delayed finalizing new regulations for grizzly bears in the lower 48 states until the end of the year.
Advocates worry this could signal a future attempt from the Trump administration to take grizzlies in the Northern Rockies and Washington off the endangered species list.
Grizzlies have largely been on the list since 1975, but there’s fierce debate about whether they should remain there. The last proposal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — released in the final days of the Biden administration — would have kept them on the list with some tweaks, such as giving landowners more flexibility around killing bears that threaten livestock.
After receiving more than 200,000 comments, the Fish and Wildlife Service was supposed to finalize the grizzly regulations by Jan. 31, as mandated by a federal district court in Idaho. But Gina Shultz, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s acting assistant director for ecological services, asked for an extension.
“In the months following the publication of the proposed rule, the Service experienced a change in administration, unforeseen staffing turnover and shortages, a regulatory backlog, and was without a Senate-confirmed director until August 1, 2025,” Shultz said in a Jan. 28 court filing.
She also cited the recent federal shutdown which kept employees from working on the plan, as well as the complexity of making rules for grizzly bears.
District Judge David C. Nye approved the extension request until Dec. 18, 2026, highlighting that the final rule must comply with the Endangered Species Act and either revise or remove the entire listing for grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.
Some environmentalists worry the Trump administration could use the extra time to try to do the latter.
“We think that this extension likely signals a proposed delisting rule in the future,” said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the nonprofits suing the federal government to keep grizzlies federally protected.
Zaccardi pointed to past statements from the Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik, a Trump nominee who previously served at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and has pushed to delist the bears.
In a recent U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources meeting, Nesvik told Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming) that at least the state of Wyoming has met the criteria to delist the bears. Hageman is trying to pass a bill through Congress to delist, though it hasn’t gained momentum.
“I do believe recovery is clear,” Nesvik said. “And now it’s my job in this role to consider how we use the best available science to move forward.”
Zaccardi countered that the Service “clearly noted that the science does not support delisting in its proposed rule last year.”
There’s disagreement about the science around grizzlies. Proponents of delisting, such as the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, point to population targets that the bears have far exceeded. But opponents say the bears still only occupy a slice of their historic range, and they’re not genetically diverse. Courts have called on western states to make them more diverse, which has resulted in states trucking bears across ecosystems to promote interbreeding.
The Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t respond about future delisting attempts by publication time.
Zaccardi said the agency would legally have to propose another rule and accept public comment. She predicted that could happen this spring, so a rule could be finalized by the mid-December deadline.
She added, “If a delisting rule is finalized this year, we will plan to challenge that in court.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
