The Bush Administration wants to delist Yellowstone's griz, apparently on the theory that 600 bears is enough.
Forgive my cynicism, but I found these paragraphs of the story the most revealing:
But Louisa Wilcox, who directs the Natural Resources Defense Council's wild bears project, said delisting would place the grizzlies' critical habitat in jeopardy. The bears range over nearly 9 million acres in and around the national park, she said, but the administration's proposal only covers a 6 million-acre habitat.Emphasis mine.
"We would love to see the grizzly bear delisted, but it's not ready," Wilcox said, adding that one-third of the bears' current habitat could be opened to drilling, logging and human development under the agency's plan. "If you want to protect bears for future generations, you have to protect the habitat they need. This plan doesn't do it."
Grizzly bears are now limited to only two percent of their original habitat. I think we can all accept that griz are never going to be as plentiful as they were when Lewis and Clark rolled through, but is this good enough?
This is particularly worrying on the heels of this article from the Sunday Post, which reports that intentional, illegal killings of grizzlies are on the rise in western Montana.
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