The Fish and Wildlife Service has now secured an additional 11 months to decide whether grizzly bears still require Endangered Species Act protections.
Citing “administrative limitations” and “the highly complex nature of grizzly bear rulemaking,” the federal agency quietly requested that a long-established Jan. 31 decision deadline be kicked down the road to December. Last Friday, one day before the original deadline, an Idaho-based federal judge approved the delay.
“Rulemaking for complex species such as grizzly bears requires significant staff time and agency resources,” said Gina Shultz, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s acting assistant director for ecological services, in a court filing.
Shultz added that grizzly bears “generate significant public interest and involvement,” and noted that the Fish and Wildlife Service received “more than 200,000 public comments” in response to a 2025 proposal to maintain protections for the bears outside Alaska as a threatened species.
