Wyoming Fish and Game supporting USFW plans to appeal Judge Molloy's ruling in Spring of 2009 that put the Grizzly back on the Endangered Species List.................. Fish and Wildlife at the Federal Level as well as the Western State level feel that the Griz is resourceful enough to persist and thrive despite the challenge to dwindling sources of food like whitebark pine seeds due to warming temperatures-----Another case of USFW reaching controversial decisions(see my series of Posts on Cougar re-wilding being stymied by USFW) on the fate and future of our trophic Carnivores

Wyoming game officials awaiting grizzly ruling

• Gazette Wyoming Bureau

 DAVID GRUBBS/Gazette Staff A grizzly bear lumbers through the timber near Mammoth in Yellowstone National Park in May 2009. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to appeal a 2009 court decision next week that has kept Yellowstone-area grizzlies protected under the Endangered Species Act.

CODY, Wyo. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will appeal a 2009 court decision next week that has kept Yellowstone-area grizzly bears protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Mark Bruscino, bear management specialist with Wyoming Game and Fish, told Park County commissioners Tuesday that Fish and Wildlife is scheduled to appeal the ruling before a panel of judges in San Francisco."Fish and Wildlife believes, and we believe, that the regulatory mechanisms are adequate — the laws, regulations and policies are there to protect the bear into the future if it's delisted," Bruscino said."I believe they can also make a substantial argument that the decline in whitebark pine won't negatively affect the bears."
The Fish and Wildlife Service delisted the grizzly bear in 2007, Bruscino noted. A coalition of groups then sued the agency, arguing that the bears continued to face threats that jeopardized their recovery in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.Among other things, the groups cited the lack of a regulatory mechanism to protect the bears. They also argued that the effects of climate change on the bear's food source, particularly whitebark pine, posed a continued threat to the animal.U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled in favor of the groups in 2009. That ruling will be appealed next week.
Bruscino said that if Molloy's decision stands after next week's appeal, Wyoming Game and Fish may have a difficult time complying with certain elements of the ruling."It may preclude delisting way into the distant future," Bruscino said. "I think it would be a tragedy for the Endangered Species Act — for grizzly bear recovery and conservation, and for future grizzly bear management."
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