Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon are announcing the successful translocation of two grizzly bears from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) in Montana to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in Wyoming.
“Wyoming’s grizzly bear recovery efforts are monumental and expensive. It is frustrating that time and time again, we meet a bar set by the court, only to see the goalposts moved yet again,” Gov. Gordon said. “This week’s effort assures genetic connection can be achieved through active management to address the court’s requirement where a healthy number of grizzlies, and an ever-expanding range have not been sufficiently convincing to the Ninth Circuit.”
“Montana has worked diligently to set up a framework to take over management of grizzly bears in our state,” Gov. Gianforte said. “This translocation effort demonstrates our commitment to ensuring the conservation of bears in the NCDE and the GYE. It’s time to delist the grizzly bear and let the states take over management.”
Through a partnership between Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), the translocations were the result of a commitment between Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho under the Tri-State Memorandum of Agreement. The agreement was established to ensure the long-term genetic diversity of the GYE’s grizzly bear population and secure a genetic connection between the two areas and the recovered populations of bears.
The bears, a subadult female and subadult male, were captured in a remote portion of northwest Montana by FWP and transported safely and securely to Wyoming, where WGFD received the subadult female and Yellowstone National Park received the subadult male.
On July 30, the states released a subadult female in the Blackrock drainage approximately 35 miles northwest of Dubois, Wyoming. On July 31, Yellowstone National Park personnel released a subadult male, within the park boundaries, in a remote area south of Yellowstone Lake.
In 2019, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Crow Indian Tribe v. United States that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) must ensure the long-term genetic diversity of the GYE’s grizzly bear population.
The translocation addresses concerns cited by the court and demonstrates the commitment of Wyoming and Montana to ensure that diversity remains. Both Wyoming and Montana have engaged in legal efforts to delist the grizzly bear in the GYE.
In December 2021, Gov. Gianforte petitioned the federal government to delist the grizzly bear in the NCDE. In February 2023, he welcomed the FWS acceptance of the state of Montana’s petition to delist grizzly bears in the NCDE in northwest Montana.
“After decades of work, the grizzly bear has more than recovered in the NCDE, which represents a conservation success. I’m proud of our progress with the federal government to delist the grizzly in the NCDE, opening the door to state management of this iconic American species,” Gov. Gianforte said.
Governor Gordon petitioned the federal government to delist the GYE grizzly population in January, 2022.
“Now it is clear that the grizzly bear in the Yellowstone ecosystem should be delisted, as it has been twice before. Wyoming thanks their partners in Montana and Idaho for their commitment to this effort,” Gov. Gordon added.
The bears selected for the translocation had no history of conflict and will be monitored through a GPS collar. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team will continue regular genetic monitoring of the GYE population.
