Idaho is preparing to ask the federal government to remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears.
The intention was announced during a presentation to the Idaho Fish and Game Commission at Boise on Thursday. It was unclear how far the state’s petition, which is expected to be completed in the next few weeks, will go and whether it will include all of the grizzly bear populations and recovery areas within Idaho or even all of those in the Lower 48. But officials said it will be timed to take advantage of grizzly bear de-listing petitions recently submitted by Montana and Wyoming.
Deputy Director Jim Fredericks and Kathlene Trever, a deputy attorney general who works with the department, said leaving the bears listed under the Endangered Species Act will make it more difficult to build support for long-term conservation measures in rural communities and the federal government’s nearly 30-year old designation of grizzly bear recovery areas is legally and scientifically outdated.
Fredericks said Fish and Game officials are working with counterparts in the Office of Species Conservation to compile Idaho’s concerns. (Lewiston Tribune)
