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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 26 auguSt 2017

Judge: Bears near U.S.-Canada border merit endangered status

By MATT VOLZ meters) southeast of the
Associated Press area with portions of three
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Ani- national forests where the
mals and plants can be Cabinet-Yaak bears live.
considered endangered The U.S. government de-
even if they are not on the clared Yellowstone grizzlies
brink of extinction, a judge recovered and lifted fed-
ruled in overturning the U.S. eral protections for them
government’s re-classifica- last month.
tion of a small population The government agency
of grizzly bears living in the ruled in 2014 that the Cab-
forests of Montana and inet-Yaak population had
Idaho near the Canada stabilized and no longer
border. needed to be considered
Tuesday’s ruling by U.S. as an endangered spe-
District Judge Dana Chris- cies.
tensen said that the U.S. The agency acknowl-
Fish and Wildlife Service is edged their numbers were
prohibited from narrowing still far short of the 100 bears
the definition an endan- targeted for a recovered
gered species in its future population and still mer-
decisions without explain- ited “threatened” status.
ing why it wants to make A “threatened” classifica-
the policy change. tion provides many, but
The federal Endangered This June 20, 2014 file photo taken by an automatic trail camera provided by the U.S. Fish and not all, of the protections
Species Act defines an en- Wildlife Service shows an adult female grizzly bear in the Cabinet Mountains in northwest Montana given to endangered spe-
dangered species as one near Canada. Associated Press cies against killing or hurt-
that is “in danger of ex- ing them and their habitat.
tinction throughout all or bears spent decades on a dangered species in 2008. sidering if a species should Until that 2014 decision, the
a significant portion of its waiting list to be classified The judge said that memo be listed as endangered,” Fish and Wildlife Service
range.” as “endangered,” prompt- was only supposed to ap- said Mike Garrity, the ex- classified Cabinet-Yaak
In 2014, the Fish and Wild- ing a lawsuit from the con- ply to polar bears and not ecutive director of the Alli- bears as warranting en-
life Service interpreted servation group Alliance for set a new policy for defin- ance for the Wild Rockies. dangered species status,
that to mean that 40 to 50 the Wild Rockies. ing endangered species, A Fish and Wildlife Service but ruled that other trou-
Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bears Christensen ruled that the but that the agency tried spokeswoman did not im- bled species had a higher
living in the mountainous, government effectively to apply it to the Cabinet- mediately return a tele- priority, such as the red-
remote part of Montana changed its policy without Yaak bears. phone message seeking crowned parrot in Texas
and Idaho are not endan- explaining it or seeking pub- In future listings of any ani- comment. and the Puerto Rico harle-
gered because they are lic input. He reinstated the mals or plants under the The Cabinet-Yaak bears quin butterfly.
not “on the brink of extinc- Cabinet-Yaak bears’ status Endangered Species Act, are one of six grizzly pop- So the bears spent de-
tion” — an explanation as warranting classification the judge said, the Fish and ulations in the Northern cades on a list with hun-
used only once before to as an endangered species Wildlife Service must prove Rockies from Washington dreds of other species
justify keeping polar bears — essentially putting them that the federal law allows state to Wyoming. waiting for their turn.
from endangered status. back on the waiting list. The the “brink of extinction” in- All are considered threat- The Alliance for the Wild
The federal agency used federal agency first used terpretation and provide ened, with the recent ex- Rockies argued the bears
that interpretation to up- the “brink of extinction” in- an explanation of why that ception of about 700 griz- are still endangered be-
grade the status of Cab- terpretation in a memo to interpretation is needed. zlies living in and around cause their population is
inet-Yaak grizzly bears to explain its decision not to “It will apply to all other spe- Yellowstone National Park, less than half of the recov-
“threatened” after the list the polar bear as an en- cies when the FWS is con- about 300 miles (480 kilo- ery target.q