Take action to help keep grizzlies protected under the Endangered Species Act

The grizzly bear is not only featured on Wilderness Watch’s logo, but is a quintessential symbol of Wilderness and wildness.

Thankfully, on January 8, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected petitions from the states of Montana and Wyoming to strip grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies of their important federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections.

Unfortunately, on January 15 the agency also proposed to shrink the area in which grizzlies are protected and to weaken the protections the threatened bears still have. This proposal kicked off a rulemaking process, which includes an important public comment period that runs through March 17.

Please tell the Fish and Wildlife Service that you unequivocally support continued ESA threatened species status for grizzly bears.

Grizzly bears were listed under the ESA in 1975 after being pushed to the brink of extinction in the lower 48. While progress has been made over the past fifty years to recover grizzly bear populations, it has been slow due to the bear’s low reproductive rates, the elimination of key food sources, and rapid human population growth and accompanying development across their range. And way too many grizzlies are recklessly killed by humans every year—whether by cars, trains, or by government agents acting on behalf of intolerant ranchers.

Alarmingly, even as grizzly bears still remain protected by the ESA, the states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana have already developed plans for trophy hunting grizzlies—including within Wilderness. That’s why it’s essential that the Great Bear retains its federal protections.

Thank you for speaking up for grizzly bears—and the Wilderness habitat they need to survive and thrive!

Take action by March 17.