An October 2019 decision by the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s Pinedale District authorizes continued cattle grazing on 267 square miles of public lands that will result in the deaths of an estimated 72 grizzly bears in the Upper Green River and Gros Ventre River drainages on the southern border of Yellowstone National Park.
[Note from All-Creaturs.org: Please also read Captain Paul Watson on Welfare Ranching]
Greater Yellowstone grizzly. Photo: National Park Service
We have tens of millions of cattle in America but we only have about 700
grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Yet an October 2019
decision by the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s Pinedale District authorizes
continued cattle grazing on 267 square miles of public lands that will
result in the deaths of an estimated 72 grizzly bears in the Upper Green
River and Gros Ventre River drainages on the southern border of Yellowstone
National Park. In response, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies,
Yellowstone-to-Uintas Connection, and Western Watershed Project recently
sent a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue to the Forest Service and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service unless the agency protects the bears as required
by the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 72 grizzly bears will be
‘incidentally taken’ – which means “killed” — as a result of the Upper Green
River grazing allotments between the 2019 and 2028 grazing seasons. It’s an
astounding decision by the Forest Service since federal district courts have
already ruled twice that grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
must be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The courts ruled to protect the bears for very good reasons. Due to
isolation from other grizzly populations the Yellowstone bears may suffer
inbreeding, which could lead to the extinction of the Yellowstone
Ecosystem’s distinct grizzly population. Illegal lake trout introduction in
Yellowstone National Park has significantly reduced populations of
Yellowstone cutthroat trout, a traditional high-value grizzly food source.
Add to that the drastic die-off of whitebark pines due to global warming,
which has significantly reduced production of their seeds which are another
high nutrition traditional food source for the bears. The result? Grizzly
bears are being forced into less secure habitat where they are often shot
and killed.
In essence, the Forest Service has been and would continue to manage this
huge grazing allotment area to the detriment of wildlife, water, fish, soil
and native species because of overgrazing by livestock. Natural diversity,
including its myriad ecological relationships, is negatively impacted by
livestock grazing, which includes accelerating succession of aspen as well
as increasing the fire hazard in conifer forests.
Over a decade ago, the Forest Service published a map outlining the higher
elevation connections between the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Uinta
Mountains and the Northern and Southern Rockies. Historically, grizzly
bears, lynx, and wolverine have all utilized these important travel routes,
which were designated as a Regional and Nationally Significant Wildlife
Corridor. Now, however, it’s heavily fragmented with roads, timber sales,
oil and gas development and livestock grazing while off-road vehicles push
ever further into what used to be secure grizzly habitat. Yet, astoundingly,
these issues were not seriously considered in the Environmental Impact
Statement.
There are simple steps that ranchers can take to protect their cattle from
grizzly bears that don’t involve shooting grizzlies. The solution here is to
better manage cattle grazing operations instead of trying to “manage”
grizzly bears by killing them.
In conclusion, we’re willing to challenge this project in court because
there’s simply no way to justify the projected deaths of 72 Yellowstone
Ecosystem grizzly bears due to conflicts with domestic cattle. Although the
National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to conduct a
comprehensive environmental analysis that takes into account impacts to
wildlife and ecosystems, this project ignored significant factors that
affect the grizzlies and offers no resolution of these conflicts.
The 60-day Notice gives the Forest Service an opportunity to correct these
deficiencies and protect grizzly bears. We truly hope the agency brings its
decision in line with the law before we have to go to court – but the clock
is ticking.
Number of animals killed in the world by the fishing, meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage.
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