A top U.S. Fish and Wildlife official told Idaho lawmakers Monday the Trump administration will immediately push to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list after a proposed rule is finalized.
Gov. Brad Little joined Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in July in announcing a proposed rule that would give states more control over managing endangered grizzly bears.
Grizzlies have been on the Endangered Species list since 1975 after nearly being wiped out by settlers across their original range. Their inclusion gives them broad protections from hunting and development within their habitat.
A release from the agency said the proposed rule would not change the bears' protection status. Instead, it would be up to states – in this case, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming – to implement their own recovery plan for the animals.
"So, as soon as that [rule] comes out, you're going to see an immediate push on delisting," Karen Budd-Falen, a Fish and Wildlife deputy director, told Idaho legislators Monday.
Budd-Falen said the proposed rule will act as a safety net if delisting grizzlies fails in an expected court challenge.
"It's really sort of a belt-and-suspenders kind of thing: if we can't get [grizzly bears] delisted, then at least the states are in the governing position in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho."
That's because she said the feds would have minimal oversight over states that develop their own management plans, including how the endangered bears are handled when they come into conflict with livestock or humans.
"In states like Idaho, where you don't quite have the population numbers, there is a little more governance by the Fish and Wildlife Service, but not very much, quite honestly," Budd-Falen said.
Up to 120 grizzlies are estimated to live in the Idaho Panhandle, though those population estimates overlap in areas shared with Canada, Montana and Washington. The bears' recovery has been much more pronounced in Montana and Wyoming where there are nearly 2,000 of them spread across the northern Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone, according to a federal report from 2024.
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