Idaho Lawmakers Want Grizzly Bear Delisted

Idaho House Joint Memorial 4 was introduced earlier this month, asking the federal government to remove the grizzly bear from the Endangered Species List.  The Memorial said grizzly bears have reached recovery goals in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and those elevated population numbers have led to conflicts between bears and both humans and other animals alike.

“The memorial calls on the Trump administration and Congress to delist the grizzly bear, and restore state management," said Dex Lake with the Idaho Farm Bureau.  "It also calls on the federal government to review of the Endangered Species Act and its rules for legality and effectiveness.” 

A proposed rule handed down in the final moments of the Biden administration did away with individual ecosystems for grizzly bears and would instead make the entire lower forty-eight states one whole ecosystem.  The new administration has canceled meetings relating to that rule and stated they want to review the science and decision-making processes that lead to the rule change before putting it into effect.

The grizzly bear has been delisted and relisted twice, most recently occurring in 2017.

Lake noted although Joint Memorials are not law and carry no legal effect, they can show state support for a unified cause.  Click Here to learn more about House Joint Memorial 4.

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