Why It Matters: The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was designed to recover species and create a pathway toward long-term conservation. As grizzly bear populations continue to recover across parts of the West, proposals providing states and Tribes with greater management authority represent an important next step. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) supports science-based wildlife management and believes successful recovery should be accompanied by management flexibility for the wildlife professionals responsible for conserving these populations into the future.
Highlights:
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed revisions that would provide states and Tribes greater flexibility to manage threatened grizzly bears while maintaining federal ESA protections.
- The proposal recognizes decades of successful recovery efforts by federal agencies, state fish and wildlife agencies, Tribes, private landowners, sportsmen and women, and local communities.
- As grizzly bear populations expand, state fish and wildlife agencies are increasingly responsible for research, habitat conservation, population monitoring, and responding to human-wildlife conflicts.
- CSF supports science-based wildlife management and believes successful species recovery should lead to greater management authority for the state agencies that have invested in the long-term conservation efforts responsible for the recovery.
The grizzly bear stands as one of America’s most recognizable conservation success stories. Once reduced to a fraction of its historic range in the Lower 48, collaborative conservation efforts have helped recover populations across several ecosystems in the West. Today, the conversation is no longer centered solely on preventing decline, but on how recovered populations should be managed into the future now that the species has met the population goals set forth under the ESA.
Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to provide states and Tribes with additional management flexibility for threatened grizzly bears while maintaining federal protections under the ESA. The proposal represents more than a regulatory change; it demonstrates what success under the ESA was always intended to achieve – recovering species to the point where long-term stewardship can increasingly be entrusted to the state and Tribal wildlife professionals closest to the resource. CSF supports the proposal as an important step in recognizing successful recovery while ensuring grizzly bears remain responsibly managed for the future.
State fish and wildlife agencies have been central to grizzly bear recovery for decades. Working alongside federal partners, private landowners, sportsmen and women, and local communities, these agencies have invested in research, habitat conservation, population monitoring, public education, and conflict response. This collaborative approach reflects the principles of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which recognizes professional wildlife management as the foundation of successful conservation. As grizzly populations continue to expand, state agencies are best positioned to apply adaptive, science-based management that balances healthy bear populations with the needs of local communities.
The ultimate measure of success under the Endangered Species Act is not how long a species remains under federal protection, but whether recovery creates the opportunity for long-term, science-based stewardship by the wildlife professionals closest to the resource. Providing states and Tribes with greater management authority demonstrates confidence in decades of successful conservation and the partnerships that made recovery possible. For grizzly bears, this proposal represents the next chapter of conservation – one built on continued science-based management, strong partnerships, and a shared commitment to sustaining healthy wildlife populations for generations to come.