Debate Already Over Montana's Latest Grizzly Plans

We still have to see if the federal government will "de-list" grizzly bears, taking them off of the Endangered Species List in the Northern Rockies.

But state officials say they're ready to manage the big bears, releasing details in a new Final Environmental Impact Statement for grizzly bear management.

The plan has been a target for the state for several years, as both the Bullock and Gianforte Administrations have attempted to come up with an approach for dealing with the bears after de-listing, all the while bear populations have been climbing.

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What's in the Montana grizzly plan

The plan seeks to keep approximately the current level of grizzlies around the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. But measures such as "conflict resolution" and hunting would be used to manage bears in other areas. Ranchers could apply for permits to kill a bear if it was destroying livestock.

Montana would aim to keep grizzly populations stable around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and NCDE but wouldn't take measures to "actively manage" to have grizzlies outside those "core areas."

The state, through Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, also drops the idea of using limits for the minimum or maximum number of bears, casting doubt on the effectiveness of having those benchmarks. Instead, the focus would be to maintain a population of about 800 grizzlies around the two ecosystems.

Conservation groups are already attacking the plan

Those last two points are where much of the objections are expected to come from Northern Rockies conservation groups. They've continued to maintain, and argue in court, that the "connectivity" of bear habitat between the NCDE and GYE is critical to having a viable grizzly population over the long run.

Pointing to the possibility of hunting in a Facebook post, WildEarth Guardians said the state is "clearly not prepared to handle the responsibility of managing grizzlies".