Page 10 - Wyoming's Grizzly Harvest - The Story the State Wants to Bury with the Bears

Wyoming’s Grizzly Harvest On the face of it, FWS’s so-called Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator, Chris Servheen, did not appear to have much if anything to do with Judge Berman Jackson’s ruling on the wolf, but appearances can be deceptive. Since 1992, Servheen has been campaigning to have the Yellowstone grizzly bear delisted from the ESA and its fate served up to the game and fish agencies of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Servheen, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST), and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) are all familiar with the rejoinder “arbitrary and capricious” as that is how Judge Paul Friedman described their grizzly delisting methodology in 1995. During his first term, Wyoming Governor, Matt Mead, employed essentially the same strategy to achieve his ends with the grizzly as he did with the wolf, by pressuring the Department of the Interior to green-light Servheen’s wish at FWS. Mead’s core constituency, the livestock, energy and sport hunting triumvirate, have demanded no less. On September 30, when Judge Berman Jackson denied Mead’s and FWS’s request to reverse her decision on the wolf, largely because of Mead’s attempt to translate Wyoming’s “to reasonably ensure” into state law, FWS’s and Wyoming’s intentions to finally ram through delisting the grizzly took a temporary hit. 10