Interior Department won’t recognize victory on saving grizzly bear

The nation won its battle to save the endangered grizzly bear some 22 years ago, but the Biden administration is refusing to take the win, and that’s causing a lot of concern in bear-rich Montana.

At a hearing this month, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) came loaded for bears, telling Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that the population is higher than the target of 1,300. He added that they are doing a lot of destruction and need to be controlled.

As Haaland expressed no knowledge of the success, Daines dished numbers. “The 2022 numbers, the most current data. It’s 965 in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It’s 1,138 in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. So, make a chart. Five hundred is the target, actual is 965, that’s Yellowstone, and now the Northern Continental Divide, the target is 800, actual, according to FWS, is 1,138,” he said.

But the math didn’t help the secretary. “If the populations are greater than the recovery target, would you conclude the grizzly bears have now recovered?” Daines asked.

“Senator,” she said, “unfortunately, I am not a scientist.”

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He roared back, “You are the secretary of Interior, with complete respect. You’re in line of succession for the presidency of the United States.”

She added, “Senator, I’m happy to ask the scientists when I get back to the Department of the Interior. I am not a scientist. I don’t want to speculate what the science would say to your question.”