Daines Leads Letter to FWS Urging Reversal of Biden-Era Red Tape that Slows Grizzly Bear Delisting

• May 13, 2025

U.S. SENATE - U.S. Senator Steve Daines led his colleagues in sending a bicameral letter today to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raising concerns with a Biden-era policy that unnecessarily slows the grizzly bear delisting process by creating a single recovery zone that stretches from Washington State to Eastern Montana.

Senators Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Representatives Ryan Zinke (MT-01), Troy Downing (MT-02), Harriet Hageman (WY), Russ Fulcher (ID-01), and Mike Simpson (ID-02) joined Daines in sending the letter.

"In early January, the Biden Administration's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a new proposal for the Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing of grizzly bears in the lower 48. This decision punishes Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho's successful grizzly bear recovery efforts. As members who represent these states, we believe that this flawed decision will severely damage trust in ESA listing decisions and undermine future recovery efforts. We strongly oppose the proposed "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Grizzly Bear Listing on the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife With a Revised Section 4(d) Rule" and urge you to review the population data to acknowledge the recovery of grizzlies and delist and return management to the states where it belongs," they wrote in the letter.

Read the full letter HERE.

Read more of Daines' work to delist the grizzly bear HERE.

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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Gabby Wiggins