Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 1 augusT 2017

Yellowstone grizzlies removed from threatened species list

By MATT VOLZ common as the bears’
Associated Press population has swelled
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The and they wander back into
U.S. government lifted pro- areas where they haven’t
tections for grizzly bears in been seen in a century.
the Yellowstone region on “We see bears going to ar-
Monday, though it will be eas where they have little
up to the courts to decide chance of remaining con-
whether the revered and flict-free,” Frey said. “It’s
fearsome icon of the West becoming more challeng-
stays off the threatened ing with all the people.”
species list. More than a Yellowstone National Park
month after announcing Superintendent Dan Wenk
grizzlies in and around Yel- said the park supports the
lowstone National Park are removal of grizzlies from
no longer threatened, the the threatened species list
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- but wants to make sure the
vice officially handed over population remains strong
management of the ap- so visitors will continue hav-
proximately 700 bears living ing opportunities to see the
across 19,000 square miles animals. Hunting still won’t
(49,210 sq. kilometers) in This July 6, 2011, file photo shows a grizzly bear roaming near Beaver Lake in Yellowstone National be allowed within the park.
Montana, Idaho and Wyo- Park, Wyo. Associated Press After gray wolves were
ming to wildlife officials in taken off the endangered
those states. The ruling does The bears were determined “There are a lot of safe- protections after the Yel- species list, Yellowstone
not apply to the approxi- to be a threatened species guards in the conservation lowstone bears’ numbers unsuccessfully sought the
mately 1,000 bears living in 1975 after hunting and strategy to ensure the griz- rose above 600. The 9th U.S. creation of a no-kill zone,
farther north in the North- trapping in the 1800s and zly population will remain,” Circuit Court of Appeals or buffer zone, around the
ern Continental Divide early 1900s nearly wiped said Kevin Frey, a wildlife upheld the judge’s ruling in park. State officials reject-
area that includes Glacier them out. The strict no-kill management specialist for 2011. ed it. A no-kill zone won’t
National Park and the Bob policy and habitat preser- the Montana Department The ruling then was that the be pursued for grizzlies,
Marshall Wilderness. vation that came with be- of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. bears still needed protec- Wenk said. Instead, park of-
Not much is expected to ing on the threatened spe- Hunting grizzlies is strongly tion because of the decline ficials want to be involved
immediately change as cies list helped their num- opposed by wildlife advo- of the whitebark pine trees with discussions that lead
a result of the handover. bers recover in the years cates and Native American — a key food source. Fed- up to decisions by the three
State wildlife officials have since. tribes who worry the bears’ eral wildlife officials say that states on how to structure
been working for decades Now, grizzly bears can be recovery will nosedive with- the bears have now adjust- their bear hunts — and fo-
to protect the bears as hunted again under the out U.S. government over- ed to a more meat-based cus on areas where bears
their population grows and management plans sub- sight. Multiple organizations diet, and the whitebark are more likely to have
their range expands farther mitted by Montana, Idaho and individuals have filed pine nuts are no longer vital problems with humans and
away from the oldest U.S. and Wyoming. None of notice that they will sue to for their survival. livestock.
national park, and they say the three states will hold a place grizzly bears back on Wildlife advocates say that “We have never asked for
they will continue to do so. hunting season this year, the threatened species list. change in diet brings a dif- a buffer for bears. But what
Federal wildlife officials will and wildlife officials say any It’s happened once be- ferent kind of threat. we have asked for and
also monitor the states for hunts in the future would be fore. In 2009, a federal Encounters with ranchers what is always part of our
five years and re-impose held only after closely ex- judge overturned the Fish protecting livestock and conversation is to concen-
protections if the popula- amining the effects on the and Wildlife Service’s deci- hunters competing for elk trate the hunts in areas of
tion drops below 500 bears. population. sion two years earlier to lift and deer have become conflict,” he said.q