skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, June 13, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Tensions over L.A. immigration sweeps boil over as Padilla is tackled, ICE arrests pick up; IN residents watch direction of Trump spending bill amid state budget cuts; More than two dozen 'No Kings' events planned Saturday across Montana.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Democrats demand answers on CA Sen. Padilla's handcuffing and removal from a DHS news conference. Defense Secretary Hegseth defends the administration's protest response as preventative, and Trump vows protests of Saturday's military parade will be met with "heavy" force.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

EV charging stations are harder to find in rural America, improving the mental health of children and teachers is the goal of a new partnership in seven rural states, and a once segregated Mississippi movie theater is born again.

Lawsuit Filed Challenging Delisting of Yellowstone Grizzlies

play audio
Play

Thursday, August 31, 2017   

MISSOULA, Mont. – Conservation groups are challenging in court the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to strip Yellowstone grizzly bears of endangered species protection.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Missoula and says Fish and Wildlife's decision to take grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem off the endangered species list is based on flawed science and undermines the bears' continuing recovery.

Tim Preso, an attorney in Montana for Earthjustice, says now is not the time for the bears to lose crucial federal protections and be turned over to the states.

"Our basic point is this is not the time to declare victory and subject bears to less protection and specifically to subject them to the threat of state-sponsored trophy hunting in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, which is something that the states are actively planning for," Preso stresses.

When he announced the decision in July, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke hailed the lifting of protections as a sign of "one of America's great conservation successes."

Under new management, states are required to maintain a "stable population," defined as between 600 and about 750 bears within the Yellowstone ecosystem.

Estimates for 2016 showed there were about 690 bears in that area, and conservation groups are worried that if those numbers dwindle to 600, it could take years for the slow-reproducing animals to rebound.

Barrie Gilbert, a retired conservation biologist who studied grizzlies for decades, says it is hard to know the actual number of bears.

"It's still very difficult to tell what the population is doing,” he states. “They're one of the hardest species to determine trends in the numbers, and I don't think people have the realization of how uncertain the results are from those kinds of studies."

Gilbert points out the bears still face a lot of threats, such as a reduction in food sources, including whitebark pine and cutthroat trout. He says opening hunting season would be disastrous for the population and refutes the claim that bears have actually made much of a comeback.

"Of course, if you give them protection, they're going to grow, but that doesn't mean that they're doing especially well,” he states. “They're just returning to where they had been before they were destroyed in such large numbers in the '70s."





get more stories like this via email

more stories
A single Abercrombie dairy facility will house 12,500 cows. Combined with the planned 25,000-cow Herberg site, these two operations will generate manure equivalent to that of a city of 1.5 million. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

North Dakota is facing growing opposition to two massive dairy operations planned near the Red River. Environmental advocates say the projects could …


Social Issues

play sound

The budget reconciliation bill being considered by the U.S. Senate proposes $863 billion in Medicaid reductions over a decade, with 10.9 million …

Social Issues

play sound

Next Monday marks the beginning of "PROTECT" week, when AARP helps seniors learn the signs of financial fraud. Experts say Maryland seniors can …


Total Medicaid spending in Indiana in fiscal year 2022 was $17 billion, with the federal government paying 75% of the costs. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

As Congress reviews budget slashes to health care in President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a new evaluation from the nonpartisan Cong…

Environment

play sound

California took a big step Tuesday toward the goal of conserving 30% of land and waters by 2030. The Ocean Protection Council adopted a roadmap to …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Nevadans with disabilities are concerned with proposed federal cuts to Medicaid, despite claims from GOP lawmakers that the cuts target only waste…

Environment

play sound

Thousands of Kentucky families face utility disconnections this summer, and the latest budget reconciliation bill would eliminate the Low-Income Home …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021