BILLINGS, Mont. -- Grizzly bears are expanding their range in the U.S. Northern Rockies, spreading from remote wilderness into farmland amid a legal fight over proposed hunting.
New government data from grizzly population monitoring show bruins in the Yellowstone region of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho expanded their range by about 1,500 square miles over the past two years.
They now occupy almost 27,000 square miles, a range that has grown 34% in the past decade.
That means more bears on private lands where they can encounter humans and attack livestock, said Frank van Manen with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Run-ins with bears are happening in agricultural areas where the animals hadn't been seen for decades, raising tensions in communities over the grizzly's status as a federally protected species in the U.S. outside Alaska.
Wyoming and Idaho officials proposed grizzly hunts last year, but they were blocked by a judge's ruling.
Government attorneys on Friday asked an appeals court to overturn part of that ruling. The case could take months or even years to decide.
An estimated 700 bears live in the Yellowstone area. Biologists say that's a conservative figure and doesn't include grizzlies that are outside a designated monitoring area.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contends the animals no longer need federal protection. State officials say hunting would give them a tool to better manage their numbers, but that it would be limited to sustainable levels.
In his ruling that blocked hunting, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said in part that officials had not given enough consideration to how lifting protections for Yellowstone bears would affect other grizzly populations in the Rockies.
The government conceded that point in Friday's court brief, saying officials already had started working on the topic and would explain the impact that lifting protections would have on other bears.
But U.S. Justice Department attorneys pushed back against the judge's further contention that a "comprehensive review of the entire listed species" was needed. That would require officials to look more closely at the status of other bear populations, beyond the impacts of a decision to lift protections around Yellowstone.
The attorneys said such a detailed review exceeds what's required under federal law.
A Section on 05/26/2019