Senator Enzi Urges Colleagues to Delist Grizzly Bears in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Wednesday, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming advocated for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to be removed from the list of endangered species and for states to manage the species.

The hearing focused on the Grizzly Bear State Management Act, which Enzi introduced in February of 2019. The bill would direct the Department of the Interior to re-issue its 2017 decision to delist the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and prohibit further judicial review of this decision.

The grizzly bear was first listed on the federal threatened species list in 1975. In 2017, the Fish and Wildlife Service removed the grizzly bear from the endangered species list, citing a significant increase in bear populations and a doubling of their range land. In September 2018, a federal judge in Montana ruled to put the grizzly bear back on the endangered species list. The state of Wyoming appealed the decision, and in July 2020 a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the continued protections for the grizzly bear. The Grizzly Bear State Management Act was co-sponsored by U.S. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming introduced an identical companion bill in the House last year.