ACTION REQUIRED NOW!

1.) Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks:

FWP reopens public comment period for draft grizzly bear and wolf management plans

HELENA – Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is reopening the public comment period for the 2024 Grizzly Bear Management Plan and Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan to ensure Montana counties, Tribes, and state and federal agencies have a chance for input. The new deadline is March 9.

Deadline is March 9, 2024.

The extension will ensure that Montana statute requiring FWP to notify county commissioners of opportunities to comment on management plans for grizzly bears, wolves and other large carnivores has been met. It will also allow for additional time for tribal partners and other state and federal agencies to provide input.

Wolves and grizzly bears are iconic and controversial species,” said FWP Director Dustin Temple. “We want to ensure that everyone who has a stake in how these two species are managed can have a chance to comment on our draft plans before they are final."

The new grizzly bear plan will inform management statewide, focusing on the 30 counties where grizzly bear presence has been documented in recent yor may be documented in the near future. Since grizzly bears are still listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the plan is designed to inform state management while this species remains federally listed. The plan also addresses FWP’s future vision for management when any grizzly bear populations in Montana are delisted and full management authority for them is returned to the state.

The wolf plan shifts a key counting metric from the number of breeding pairs to the number of wolves representing at least 15 breeding pairs. The plan establishes that 450 wolves would ensure 15 breeding pairs. Population estimates will continue to be determined by the peer-reviewed Integrated Patch Occupancy Modeling method, or iPOM. The plan also describes the current depredation prevention and response program. 

Both draft plans were out for public comment in 2023. People who previously submitted comments on the draft plans do not need to submit.

To comment on the Grizzly Bear Management Plan, go to 

fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/public-comment-opportunities/grizzly-bear-management-plan

To comment on the Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, go to 

fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/public-comment-opportunities/draft-wolf-mgmt-plan

If you have already commented on the plans, your comments are captured and there is no need to comment further at this time. 

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2.) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

USFWS issues Scoping Comment Period to Establish a Grizzly Bear Population in the Bitterroot Recovery Zone, USA.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of restoring the grizzly bear ( Ursus arctos horribilis) to the Bitterroot Ecosystem (BE), a portion of the species' historical range, in Montana and Idaho. We previously issued a final EIS, record of decision, and final rule under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, to reintroduce grizzly bears to the BE as a nonessential experimental population. However, conditions have changed, so we intend to reevaluate a range of options to restore the grizzly bear to the BE during the development of a new EIS. We invite input from other Federal and State agencies, Tribes, nongovernmental organizations, private-sector businesses, and members of the public on the scope of the EIS, alternatives to our proposed approaches for assisting in the restoration of the grizzly bear in the BE, and the pertinent issues that we should address in the EIS. We also invite the public and interested parties to attend virtual public scoping meetings.

Deadline for comments are March 18, 2024.

To Review Federal Register and to send comments, click here.

PS:  If you would like to review copy of GWA's comments, you may certainly do so, just send email to this website and I will be in touch.