The Fish and Wildlife Service faces an Inauguration Day deadline to decide whether it will lift Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears, after a federal judge ordered the agency to wrap up its work.
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming on Friday issued a 45-day deadline, expiring on Jan. 20, for FWS to issue its final decision on the bears’ status.
“Nearly two full years since its obligation came due, FWS must issue its finding and determine the next chapter of the grizzly bear’s legal story,” wrote Judge Alan Johnson, a nominee of former President Ronald Reagan.
Wyoming filed a petition with FWS in January 2022 to remove the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of grizzly bears — found in portions of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho — from the list of threatened species.
