Montana lawmakers are advancing a plan aimed at proving that the state is ready to manage grizzly bears if they are delisted from federal protections.
Grizzly bears are protected as a threatened species and have been federally managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1975.
Part of the delisting process would require Montana wildlife officials to show the federal government that they have a plan to take over the job of managing the bruins. That plan is now being considered in the state Legislature.
Republican Sen. Mike Lang, from Malta, is carrying the policy developed by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.
“We worked hard with the state, the federal partners, to develop strategies that both the Yellowstone and Northern Continental grizzly bear populations will succeed,” he said.
In Montana, there are four grizzly bear recovery zones; the Greater Yellowstone, Northern Continental Divide, Cabinet-Yaak and Bitterroot ecosystems. According to FWP, grizzly populations have fully recovered in both the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems.
Democratic Sen. Willis Curdy, from Missoula, opposed the bill as it was debated on the Senate floor this week. He has concerns over hunting, which would be legal upon delisting.
“This bill has language that will manage to ensure we don't delist the grizzlies. But it has language that's clear in saying that hunting and trapping will commence at the onset of the delisting,” Curdy said.
Curdy said that the state has not sufficiently addressed the ability of bears to move and breed between their separate populations. He warned the proposal doesn’t do enough to show the federal government that Montana can manage its grizzlies.
Four Democrats joined Republicans in giving the policy initial approval in the Senate.
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The federal government is expected to decide later this month whether to remove federal protections from some grizzly bear populations. The decision comes after years of legal debate about Endangered Species Act protections for the bears.
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A federal district court has found that agencies did not fully consider the impact roads have on wildlife when drafting management plans for the Flathead National Forest.
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Highway 93 is a major thoroughfare for the region that runs right through the heart of the Flathead Reservation. One section of the road is the deadliest strip of highway for grizzly bears anywhere in northwest Montana.
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A female grizzly bear with a new cub was shot and killed by an antler hunter near Wolf Creek in Lewis and Clark County late last month, Montana FWP says.
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The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld much of a decision to temporarily shorten Montana’s wolf trapping and snaring seasons to protect grizzly bears.
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