Grizzly bear legislation advances in Congress
On July 15, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources narrowly voted in favor of advancing House Resolution 281 (HR281), the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2025.
Originally introduced in January by Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), alongside Reps. Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing (both R-MT), the legislation supports the delisting of grizzlies from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and will now move to the House floor for debate.
Meanwhile, its companion bill in the Senate, S316, which was introduced by fellow Wyoming delegate Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), awaits committee consideration.
Key provisions
Ultimately, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2025 directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to remove the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly population from the ESA, restoring a 2017 ruling issued by President Donald Trump during his last presidential term.
The rule was later vacated by a federal circuit court, and under the Biden administration, the agency reversed its decision, recommending the grizzly stay on the list and under federal jurisdiction.
Additionally, this bill would bar judicial review of the reissued rule, making it immune to federal court challenges, and transfer management authority of GYE grizzlies to individual states including Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Population recovery
Hageman notes the bill was penned in response to “years of federal lethargy and wildlife policy dictated by special-interest lobbyists,” emphasizing the grizzly’s removal from the ESA is “long overdue” based on recovery data.
In a Jan. 11 press release, Hageman explains the GYE grizzly bear has been listed as “threatened” under the ESA since 1975, with an original recovery goal in Wyoming of 500 bears.
Today, the population has more than doubled to 1,100 bears, far exceeding the agency’s recovery benchmark. Yet, under the Biden administration, federal agencies continued delaying delisting, citing “no factual basis for the decision.”
“The GYE grizzly population has exceeded FWS’s recovery goals for over two decades,” Hageman said during the committee’s markup hearing. “Since a mere three percent of species listed under the ESA have ever been delisted, the ESA desperately needs a success story like the GYE grizzly bear. The grizzly is, in fact, the poster child for how the ESA has failed in terms of what it was intended to do and how it has actually been implemented.”
Opposition and concern
While Hageman’s legislation has garnered support across the West, the hot-button issue also has some critics.
In fact, several Democrats, Tribal leaders and environmental groups have voiced strong objection, making the argument that blocking judicial oversight is unconstitutional and risks sidestepping science-based governance and that the 2018 court decision invalidated the 2017 delisting due to “the insufficient consideration of genetic viability and long-term regional impacts.”
Conservationists also believe state-managed hunts or predator control methods could spur population declines, fragment the bear population and “swiftly erode protections that took decades to build.”
Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
