The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to return management of the threatened grizzly bear to the states.
The announcement came from the secretary of the interior and governors of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming via a windy livestream from Big Sky, Montana, on Tuesday afternoon.
“The endangered species list is not a dean’s list,” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said at the July 14 press conference. “It’s time that this bear graduates.”
Gordon, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte have long pushed for removing the bear from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) list, which includes both threatened and endangered species. The proposal would keep the bears on that list but have states – not the federal government – manage them, said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
“ We're moving responsibility back to the states, not delisting, but moving responsibility back to the states because of the great recovery,” Burgum said.
“The revised proposal supports the Trump administration's goal of reducing unnecessary regulatory complexity, empowering states and tribes and ensuring wildlife management decisions are practical, science-based and effective on the ground,” according to a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior. “The rule does not change the grizzly bear’s listing status under the Endangered Species Act and does not affect existing experimental population designations.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service is reopening a 30-day public comment period on the revised proposed 4(d) rule. The revision updates a January 2025 proposal and focuses solely on the 4(d) provisions. The service is not proposing changes to, and is not seeking additional comment on, other components of the January 2025 proposed rule.
The governors said under the 4(d) rule, states would not have the authority to have hunting seasons.
This announcement applies to the about 2,000 bears in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Washington — about half of which are in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
The last time the Fish and Wildlife Service tried to delist grizzlies in 2017, Wyoming and Idaho created hunting seasons. Wyoming issued 22 tags, but the hunt never came to fruition, as environmentalists sued to resume protections and a judge ruled in their favor.
Wyoming, Idaho and Montana have argued it's time for federal protections to go away. They say grizzly numbers are up and they’ve met population targets.
“ As you heard here, the goal of the Endangered Species Act is recovery,” said Gianforte. “Today, that recovery is being recognized. Recovery was never the end of the story, though, for this iconic species. The next chapter is about stewardship. State management does not mean the work is over. In many ways, it means the work becomes even more important.”
“It's just more than fitting and proper that the state wildlife management agencies and all three of our states work together on a lot of cross-boundary wildlife issues, whether it's management, whether it's ungulate populations, fill in the blank,” added Little. “This is the right thing to do for this part of the country, and it's the right thing to do for the United States of America, so I couldn't be happier to be here.”
But many environmentalists say the bears occupy only a slice of their historic range, populations aren’t genetically diverse enough and states aren’t ready to take on management.
“This is a decision being made for political reasons, it is not based on science, in the best interest of the survival of the species, or in compliance with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act,” said Greg LeDonne, Idaho director of Western Watersheds Project. “It’s clearly too soon to remove federal protections in light of the continued lack of connectivity, ongoing habitat destruction and modification due to climate change, and record numbers of grizzly bear mortalities in 2025 even under existing protections.”
Western Watersheds issued a press release that framed the proposal as a step toward delisting, which has yet to be confirmed. The group also pointed to a recent federal court ruling that says recovery of an ESA species must occur throughout that species’ historic range, not just where they’re currently found, which could expand the area where grizzly bear recovery should be expected.
How we got here
Grizzlies have largely been on the ESA list since 1975.
The last proposal from the Fish and Wildlife Service, released in the final days of the Biden administration, would have kept them on the list with some tweaks, such as giving landowners more flexibility around killing bears that threaten livestock.
After receiving more than 200,000 comments, the Fish and Wildlife Service was supposed to finalize the grizzly regulations by Jan. 31, as mandated by a court in Idaho. But the agency asked for an extension, citing staff turnover and regulatory backlog.
Federal District Judge David C. Nye approved the extension request until Dec. 18, 2026, highlighting that the final rule must comply with the ESA and either revise or remove the entire listing for grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.
Environmental groups expect the Fish and Wildlife Service to release its new proposal in the Federal Register any day.
