For far too long, federal bureaucrats who have never set foot on Wyoming lands have controlled decisions about our wildlife.That era is finally ending, thanks to the Trump administration.
Last week, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced a new rule giving Wyoming and our neighboring states the flexibility to manage grizzly bear populations that have thrived in recent decades.The Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear population tells one of America's greatest conservation success stories.When these bears were listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1975, we had roughly 136 bears in the ecosystem.
Today, that population has grown to an estimated 1,000 bears — more than a seven-fold increase that far exceeds every recovery target ever established.The science is unambiguous: this population is not only recovered but thriving and expanding beyond the boundaries of the Yellowstone region.
Yet the grizzly bear remains listed.This defies logic, science, and frankly, the very purpose of the ESA.Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have cleared federal recovery benchmarks since 2004.
For two decades, Wyoming has spent tens of millions of dollars building the biologists, conflict response teams, and monitoring programs behind this recovery.Wyoming people know these bears and have earned the right to manage them.
Wyoming's Bear Wise program has spent years teaching ranchers and recreationists how to live alongside a growing grizzly population, and it works.Wyoming Game and Fish biologists relocate dozens of bears every year to resolve conflicts before they escalate, including one moved out of Sublette County this summer after a cattle conflict.HIDDEN DANGER AT POPULAR US NATIONAL PARK FORCES TRAIL CLOSURES AS BEAR SIGHTINGS CLIMBGlacier National Park authorities said the hiker's "injuries are consistent with those sustained by a bear encounter," adding that the individual was found "approximately 50 feet off the trail in a densely wooded area ...