A draft grizzly bear conservation strategy was approved Wednesday by The Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee during a meeting in Cody.

Approval of the strategy could be the last step toward removing the grizzly from the Endangered Species List — assuming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chooses to move forward and publish a delisting rule in the Federal Register.

If Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzlies are removed from the list, the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming will manage the bruins; grizzly hunts could be possible.

Some at the meeting praised the passage of the new strategy, but not all.

“It’s one of the biggest conservation success stories ever,” said Brian Nesvik, Wyoming Game and Fish Department wildlife division chief and YES committee member.

“Such a remarkable success story for us to celebrate,” said Joe Alexander, Shoshone National Forest supervisor and committee member.

Backstory

On the edge of extinction, grizzlies were placed on the list in 1975. They were removed for a short stint in 2007, but landed back on the list in 2009 when a federal judge cited concerns about the population. Chief among those concerns were presumed decreases in grizzly food sources, such as whitebark pine’s nutritious nuts.

The 2013 food synthesis report for the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team said there was no decline in body mass or reproduction due to less whitebark.

After further study, Fish and Wildlife proposed removing federal protections this spring and now the path is again open for delisting.

“The log jam cleared (Wednesday),” Park County commissioner and YES member Loren Grosskopf said of the vote.

Now is the time to encourage the Fish and Wildlife Service to move forward as quickly as possible, Grosskopf said. “It’s time. Past time.”

The sentiment is shared by his colleagues on the commission.

“I was 9 years old when the grizzly bears were listed,” said Lee Livingston, another Park County commissioner and a hunting outfitter. It’s time to delist, he said.

Not so fast

Not everyone was jubilant Wednesday.

Among the 20 committee members, 18 voted in favor of the conservation strategy, one opposed it and one abstained.

Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk voted against it.

There is ambiguity in the strategy’s “foreseeable future” population counts, Wenk said.

Leander Watson, representing the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, abstained from voting. Watson referred the Tribune to tribal leaders.

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes oppose delisting, said Blaine Edmo, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Council chairman in Fort Hall, Idaho.

The tribe has met with Fish and Wildlife, but the meetings haven’t accomplished much, Edmo said. “It doesn’t seem like they listen to us.”

There are approximately 700 grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Over the past year, approximately 50 have died or been killed accidentally, Edmo said. Allowing another 30 or 40 to be hunted in each of the three states could be detrimental to the population, he said.

The grizzly also has cultural and spiritual significance to the tribes, Edmo said. “We’re going to oppose the delisting as long as we can.”

In September, 50 Native American tribes and natives from Canada signed “The Grizzly: A Treaty of Cooperation, Cultural Revitalization and Restoration,” opposing delisting.

Some environmental groups have similar feelings.

“For the third year in a row the Yellowstone grizzly bear population has declined,” said Bonnie Rice, Sierra Club Greater Yellowstone/Northern Rockies’ senior campaign representative. “Recent modeling by independent scientists suggests that the mortality limits proposed in the Conservation Strategy could result in an even further decline in the population. That decline might not even be detected by current monitoring methods, making it unlikely that any action could be taken to address problems until it is too late.”

According to a model created for Sierra Club, the population estimate will be inflated by 200 bears in eight to nine years. The risk of the grizzly population sinking below 500 (the number that would trigger re-listing) is 20-25 percent, according to Sierra Club.

“We’re faced with another record year of grizzly bear mortalities,” said Caroline Byrd, Greater Yellowstone Coalition executive director. “We have to do more to keep this bear alive.”

So far this year, 54 documented grizzlies have died, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The grizzly death knell for all of 2015 was 61, with 28 counted in 2014 and 29 lost in 2013.

Rice was not pleased that the strategy passed despite a key member voting against it, she said. “That is very disconcerting.”

Plan information

The finalized version of the conservation plan was posted on the YES website on Friday, available at www.igbconline.org/yellowstone-subcommittee.

Mary Erickson, Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee chair of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee and Custer Gallatin National Forest supervisor, said she did not see the plan’s final edits as lessening grizzly protections.

YES said it was not taking public comments on the revised draft Conservation Strategy.

The Conservation Strategy is not official until it is signed by the agency leaders whose staff worked and voted on the revision, according to a prepared statement from the Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee.

It is hoped that this signing will take place at the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s annual winter meeting, scheduled for Dec. 13-14 at Holiday Inn downtown in Missoula, Montana, the statement said.

Tribune photo by Gib Mathers