U.S Federal and State Government Officials Have No Right to Decide How to Manage Grizzly Bears

A mother grizzly bear and her cubs

State officials from Wyoming have recently agreed to the state's first grizzly bear trophy hunt in more than four decades, which will allow killing of 23 bears this autumn. The unified vote by the state's Game and Fish Commission came less than a year after the bear population in and around Yellowstone National Park was stripped of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The hunting season, which is set to open in September, would allow one authorized hunter at a time to harvest up to eleven bears, including one female, in a core bear habitat area outside Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks called the Demographic Monitoring Area. In addition, another twelve bears, either male or female, can be harvested outside that area. Although the bears remain protected inside Yellowstone, they are under threat of hunting when they venture outside the park area in the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. According to the state wildlife department's manager of large carnivores Dan Thompson, the management project is "conservative" and is based on years of scientific study of Yellowstone's grizzly population. The commissioners did not discuss much ahead of the vote.

Yellowstone National Park sign

Ever since federal authorities announced that Yellowstone's grizzly bears no longer need federal protection in June 2017, more than a dozen American Indian tribes and activists sued the federal government that month, asserting that removing the bears from the ESA protections would abuse tribal religious beliefs. In August of that year, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and several nonprofit conservation organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club, registered a separate complaint in an effort to bring back ESA protections for the bears. Among those who forced Wyoming commissioners not to approve the hunt was Bonnie Rice of the Sierra Club indicating that the bears are "the essence of wildness and they're the soul of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Even though Yellowstone's grizzly population has recovered, conservationists are concerned about the threat of climate change and hunting could critically impact the bears' long-term survival since they have a very slow reproduction rate. Furthermore, the seeds of the whitebark pine, a tree that has been greatly affected by insects, disease and climate change, are an essential source of food for Yellowstone's grizzlies. According to Northern Rockies regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, Bart Melton, Wyoming "ignored its residents' concerns and national park supporters across the country by approving its destructive grizzly hunting plan." He further added in a statement that this hunt will "result in fewer bear sightings by visitors and increased risk for future of this species that was not so long ago at the brink of extinction."

Under Donald Trump's presidency, the future for grizzly bears and other charismatic animals of the U.S appears bleak.

I cannot think of anything more devastating than the federal government and the state government of Wyoming deciding the fate of charismatic animals like grizzly bears. Just because their numbers in places like Yellowstone have bounced back does not mean they are completely safe from harm. Climate change is threatening the survival of grizzly bears by devastating the survival of the whitebark pine trees, which the bears rely on for their survival. This hunting plan approved by Wyoming's Game and Fish commissioners will further affect the bears' survival ultimately reducing their population to the number of animals there were in 1975. I urge the state government of Wyoming to please not dictate how the Yellowstone grizzly bear population and populations of other wildlife in the state should be managed. I also urge the federal government to not decide how the wildlife of U.S should be managed. That is the job for conservation and environmental groups (non-governmental or otherwise), scientists, and researchers who have the knowledge and expertise on how to save threatened species and ensure their long-term survival. Furthermore, the federal and state governments should take the findings made by these groups and individuals into consideration and act upon it. This not only ensures survival of the species, but also keeps federal and state authorities in good terms with conservation and environmental groups.

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Can a Conservation Project Which Released Wolves in Yellowstone Be Implemented in Scotland?

A Eurasian wolf in Sweden's Jamtland County

In 1995, wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park where they had a powerful impact on the northwestern parts of the U.S. Now, a wealthy landowner named Paul Lister wants to try a limited version of that project in the Scottish Highlands. A native of England, Mr. Lister is longing for the regeneration of Scots pine, mountain ash and alder, and return of wildlife to the highlands. When he purchased a 23,000-acre estate northwest of the city of Inverness fifteen years ago, Mr. Lister named the place Alladale Wilderness Reserve and started restoring the environment by replanting hundreds of thousands of trees in some areas and reviving dried out peat bogs in others. However, the reserve also happens to have a thriving red deer population which is hindering the replanting efforts with the animals eating young tree shoots. In addition to roughly 750 deer, Alladale is also home to a small herd of Highland cattle, foxes, and eagles. According to reserve manager Innes MacNeill, the reserve's ecosystem is unbalanced at the moment and stated that it is not the deer that are responsible for habitat degradation but people for having killed off wolves centuries ago and allowing deer to flourish without the fear of predation. He further added that bringing wolves back to Scotland would keep the deer population in check and allow young tree shoots to survive and thus continue regenerating.

Red deer herd in Scotland

However, as with the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone, this project has faced serious opposition. The main opponents against  One group called Ramblers Scotland, a charity which advocates the "right to roam" for hikers, opposed the wolves' return to Scotland, particularly in a closed-off area that people would have to pay to visit. Fergus Ewing, a lawmaker representing farmers' interests, asserted that bringing wolves back would spell disaster for farmers and their livestock. In response to his opponents, Mr. Lister stated that he intends to charge visitors to see the reserve, and the increased number of visitors would provide a significant boost to local village economies. He assured the farmers that all wolves would be radio-collared and tracked with satellites, so that if one escapes it would be quickly captured and returned to the reserve. He further added that this not a reintroduction of wolves to the wild, but a limited project in "rewilding" a 50,000-acre piece of the Scottish Highlands surrounded by an electric fence.

Manager Innes MacNeill in Alladale Wilderness Reserve

I greatly applaud Mr. Lister's efforts of reviving Alladale Wilderness Reserve's flora and fauna, especially when it comes to reintroducing wolves in order to keep the red deer population under control. I'm confident that if wolves in Yellowstone were able to dramatically change the national park's ecosystem by keeping the elk numbers in check and allowing the local flora to flourish, then it can work for Alladale. Although I'm aware that this project is not intended to reintroduce wolves to the wilds of Scotland in general, I do believe that it will serve as a model in bringing wolves back in other protected areas of Scotland. This would help reshape the ecosystems of those protected areas where there are growing populations of red deer. I believe that when it comes to bringing wolves back to Alladale, it is important to charge visitors to see the reserve because otherwise the number of visitors coming to see the wildlife would increase dramatically and that would greatly disturb the wolves, their prey, and other wildlife. In addition, Scotland's farmers should be provided with livestock guardian dogs to minimize the risk of potential livestock predation by wolves. These animals had disappeared from Scotland since the 1700s and it is crucial to bring them back in order to reshape Scotland's natural ecosystems.

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