Dear Friend, |
| I am beyond thrilled to write to you about our third major court victory for grizzly bears this year. |
| A federal district court in Montana just ruled that unused roads left on the landscape harm and displace grizzly bears. The court held this must be taken into consideration before the government allows new roadbuilding in grizzly bear habitat. |
| This victory builds on our longstanding litigation in the Flathead National Forest, in which judge after judge has found that federal agencies illegally greenlit roadbuilding without properly examining the impacts to Endangered Species Act-protected grizzly bears and bull trout. |
|
|
| This victory comes on the heels of two others: |
| In March, another federal judge in Montana ruled that the Forest Service must do more to protect grizzlies from unauthorized motor traffic on closed roads. |
| This victory is essential because science demonstrates that grizzlies need swaths of roadless land to survive. Likewise, our win protects threatened bull trout from harmful stream sedimentation caused by roads and stream crossings. |
| In both of our Montana court victories, our partners and clients, Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan, provided invaluable knowledge and expertise in achieving these big wins for grizzly bears and bull trout. |
| We also won a massive victory for grizzly bears and wolves in Idaho when a federal judge issued an order significantly curtailing recreational wolf trapping in the state. |
| We proved that a new wave of lethal wolf trapping and snaring authorized by Idaho state law threatens to injure and kill federally protected grizzly bears. The judge therefore prohibited recreational wolf trapping on public and private lands in grizzly bear habitat during the non-denning season: March 1 through November 30. Previously, Idaho allowed a year-round recreational wolf-trapping season on private lands and prolonged trapping seasons on public lands, which varied by location. |
| This win — which protects grizzly bears as well as wolves and many other species that become casualties of rampant wolf killing — could not have been achieved without the tireless work of so many people across all Earthjustice departments and our powerful 13-client coalition. |
| All three of these victories are a powerful testament to the power of the law, the expertise and skill of our team at Earthjustice, and the importance of the Endangered Species Act in protecting the wild spaces and species we love. |
| But grizzlies still face a serious threat: delisting from their endangered species status. |
|
Despite grizzlies’ precarious status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering petitions from Wyoming and Montana to remove Endangered Species Act protections from the two strongest grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states: in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems. Doing so would remove the legal tools we relied on to achieve our three critical victories this year.
|
| We are prepared to fight for grizzlies to maintain their well-deserved endangered species status — a fight made possible by contributions from our supporters like you. |
Thank you. If you would like to support our work in this case and many others, please make a donation to Earthjustice today.
|
| Thank you for your ongoing partnership. |
|
|
Sincerely,
Ben Scrimshaw
Senior Associate Attorney
Northern Rockies Office, Earthjustice |
|
|
