Federal wildlife officials will delay an anticipated decision on the protected status of grizzly bears until next year.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service was expected to announce a decision by the end of July on whether or not to remove grizzly bears around Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks from the Endangered Species List.
That decision has now been pushed back to January 2025. In court documents filed last week, an agency director said the delay was due to ongoing litigation with the state of Idaho.
Montana and Wyoming in 2023 petitioned for delisting of specific grizzly populations around Glacier and Yellowstone. Idaho’s challenge demands a review of protections for bears across the entire contiguous US.
A spokesperson for the US Fish and Wildlife Service told MTPR the delay was intended to give the agency time to ensure consistency in its findings across the three petitions. The Service now says it expects to release simultaneous decisions on each of the petitions no later than January 31, 2025.
