On Friday, a federal district court in Missoula ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s wildlife-killing program Wildlife Services failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act before killing or removing grizzly bears in Montana. Management killing and removal is the leading cause of grizzly bear mortality. Conservation groups WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, and Trap Free Montana filed the challenge in January 2023, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center.
”We’re really pleased with the court’s decision,” said Matthew Bishop, the Western Environmental Law Center attorney representing the groups. “It’s imperative that federal agencies in the business of removing and killing grizzly bears throughout Montana take a hard look at the consequences of those actions on grizzly conservation, including connectivity between recovery areas. Indeed, from a conservation perspective, bears that move out of Greater Yellowstone or the Northern Continental Divide are among the most important for the long-term recovery and viability of the species.”
“Grizzly bears need all the help they can get right now, not more ‘tools in the toolbox’ for killing them,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney with WildEarth Guardians. “This decision recognizes that USDA Wildlife Services failed to adequately consider the impacts on grizzly bear recovery from their ‘predator removal program.’”
Judge Christensen’s order reads in part: “…because Wildlife Services disregarded a substantial body of scientific evidence and unconvincingly dismissed critical concerns about the effects and effectiveness of lethally removing grizzly bears and other predators, the [environmental assessment] is insufficient.” (order at 44)
Today’s ruling means Wildlife Services must more thoroughly analyze how killing grizzly bears affects the long-term viability of the grizzly bear population, and ultimately, their ability to fully recover within the meaning of the Endangered Species Act. The order allows Wildlife Services to continue operating the program but it must prepare a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) by Nov. 1, 2026.
“As grizzlies disperse into and reoccupy parts of their former range, it is critical for recovery of the species that these pioneering bears are protected,” said Patrick Kelly, Montana Director for Western Watersheds Project. “This welcome decision now means that as Wildlife Services carries out its grizzly bear killing program–often at the behest of public lands livestock permittees–the agency must meaningfully analyze the impacts of these killings on recovery of the species.”
Conservation groups were particularly concerned with Wildlife Services’ grizzly bear killing practices, arguing the program failed to analyze how that killing affects the broader grizzly bear population as it moves toward establishing natural connectivity between recovery zones and reinhabiting essential habitat, including in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Wildlife Services does not track the number of grizzly bears killed outside recovery zones in Montana.
Bears between recovery zones are called “dispersing” bears because they are expanding the boundaries of existing population cores, helping to establish natural connectivity between recovery zones. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined the lack of connectivity and genetic interchange between the grizzly bear recovery zones impedes the population’s ability to recover.
“Grizzlies face multiple challenges to their recovery and sustainability, “ said KC York, founder and president of Trap Free Montana. “We are pleased the court addressed the unknowns and dismissals of grizzlies facilitated by the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, and ordered a light to be shined on this black hole of information to help grizzlies’ rightful recovery.”
Background:
This lawsuit followed WildEarth Guardians’ successful 2019 lawsuit against Montana-Wildlife Services for relying on decades old environmental analyses to support its predator-killing program in Montana. Settlement of that lawsuit resulted in the 2021 environmental analyses the conservation groups challenged in this lawsuit as inadequate.
Wildlife Services kills hundreds of thousands of native wild animals every year nationwide, including native carnivores. In Montana, Wildlife Services kills wildlife, including grizzly bears, by shooting them from aircraft or from the ground, strangling them with neck snares, capturing them in traps (including baited traps), and poisoning them.
Grizzly bears are a federally listed threatened species in the lower 48 states, with a population of less than 2,000, primarily living in two core areas: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. Recovery of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states depends on establishing connectivity between these and other isolated populations (such as the Cabinet-Yaak) and restoring populations in areas such as the Bitterroot, where colonizers eradicated local grizzly populations. Recovery also depends upon reducing human-caused mortality, including management removals, which is the leading cause of grizzly bear mortality.
Contacts:
Matthew Bishop, Western Environmental Law Center, 406-422-9866, gro.w1733244228alnre1733244228tsew@1733244228pohsi1733244228b1733244228
Lizzy Pennock, WildEarth Guardians, 406-830-8924, gro.s1733244228naidr1733244228aught1733244228raedl1733244228iw@kc1733244228onnep1733244228l1733244228
Patrick Kelly, Western Watersheds Project, 208-576-4314, gro.s1733244228dehsr1733244228etawn1733244228retse1733244228w@kci1733244228rtap1733244228
KC York, Trap Free Montana, 406-218-1170, gro.t1733244228meerf1733244228part@1733244228ofni1733244228
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