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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3763-3765]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00325]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

[Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2022-0150; FF09E21000-256-FXES11130900000]

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding 
for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Grizzly Bear in the Lower-
48 States

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notification of finding.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 
12-month finding on a petition to establish and delist a Greater 
Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) distinct population segment (DPS) of the 
grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the lower-48 States. After a 
thorough review of the best scientific and commercial data available, 
we find that grizzly bears in the petitioned DPS do not, on their own, 
represent a valid DPS. Thus, we find that the petitioned action to 
establish and delist a GYE DPS is not warranted at this time.

DATES: The finding in this document was made on January 15, 2025.

ADDRESSES: The finding and the supporting information that we developed 
for this finding, including the species status assessment report and 
species assessment form, are available on the internet at https://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2022-0150. Please submit 
any new information, materials, comments, or questions concerning this 
finding to the appropriate person, as specified under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Hilary Cooley, Grizzly Bear Recovery 
Coordinator, Grizzly Bear Recovery Office, telephone: 406-243-4903, 
email: [email protected]. Individuals in the United States who are 
deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 
711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay 
services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay 
services offered within their country to make international calls to 
the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Previous Federal Actions

    Under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.; hereafter, ``Act''), the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos 
horribilis) is currently listed as threatened species in the lower-48 
States (40 FR 31734, July 28, 1975). We detail the original rulemaking 
and our subsequent actions for the species in our species status 
assessment (SSA) report (Service 2024, pp. 74-76) and summarize the 
relevant actions for this finding below.
    On June 30, 2017, we finalized a rule to establish the Greater 
Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) distinct population segment (DPS) of the 
grizzly bear and remove it from the Federal List of Endangered and 
Threatened Wildlife (List) due to recovery (82 FR 30502). However, in 
2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana vacated and 
remanded the 2017 delisting rule, putting the GYE grizzly bear 
population back on the List (as threatened) as part of the lower-48 
States listed entity. As a result, the List does not currently include 
an entry for a GYE DPS. On March 30, 2021, we completed a 5-year status 
review for the grizzly bear in the lower-48 States in which we 
concluded that the listed entity should retain its status as a 
threatened species under the Act (Service 2021, entire).
    On January 21, 2022, we received a petition from the State of 
Wyoming (petitioner) to revise the listed entity of grizzly bear under 
the Act. The petition requested that we: (1) establish a GYE DPS; and 
(2) remove it from the List (``delist''), asserting that the GYE DPS 
did not meet the definition of an endangered or threatened species. On 
February 6, 2023, we published a 90-day finding (88 FR 7658) that the 
petition contained substantial information indicating that establishing 
and delisting a GYE DPS may be warranted. This document and our 
supporting species assessment form constitutes our 12-month finding on 
the January 21, 2022, petition to establish and delist a GYE DPS of 
grizzly bear under the Act.

Background

    Under section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), we 
are required to make a finding, within 12 months after receiving any 
petition that we have determined contains substantial scientific or 
commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be 
warranted, as to whether the petitioned action is warranted, not

[[Page 3764]]

warranted, or warranted but precluded by other pending proposals (known 
as a ``12-month finding''). We must publish a notification of this 12-
month finding in the Federal Register.
    This document announces the not-warranted finding on the petition 
for the GYE grizzly bear population in accordance with the regulations 
at 50 CFR 424.14(h)(2)(i). In this document, we have also elected to 
include a summary of the analysis on which this finding is based. This 
supporting information can be found on the internet at https://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2022-0150 (see 
ADDRESSES, above). We provide the full analysis, including our 
rationale and the data on which the finding is based, in the decisional 
file for the petition and our subsequent findings. The species 
assessment form contains an explanation of why we determined that 
grizzly bears in the petitioned DPS do not, on their own, represent a 
valid listable entity such that the petitioned actions are not 
warranted at this time. The following is a summary of the documents 
containing this full analysis.

Listable Entity Requirements

    Under the Act, the term ``species'' includes any subspecies of fish 
or wildlife or plants, and any distinct population segment of any 
vertebrate fish or wildlife which interbreeds when mature (16 U.S.C. 
1532(16)). To interpret and implement the distinct population segment 
(DPS) provisions of the Act, the Service and the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration published in the Federal Register the Policy 
Regarding the Recognition of Distinct Vertebrate Population Segments 
Under the Endangered Species Act on February 7, 1996 (61 FR 4722) (DPS 
Policy). Under the DPS Policy, we consider three elements to determine 
whether to classify a population of a vertebrate species as a DPS: (1) 
the discreteness of the population segment in relation to the remainder 
of the species to which it belongs; (2) the significance of the 
population segment to the species to which it belongs; and (3) the 
population segment's conservation status in relation to the Act's 
standard for listing, delisting, or reclassification. The Policy 
requires that a population segment meet both the discreteness and 
significance elements to be considered a valid DPS (i.e., a valid 
listable entity) and only then may we consider whether the DPS warrants 
listing under the Act.

Summary of Biological Information

    The grizzly bear is a large, long-lived mammal that occurs in a 
variety of habitat types in portions of Idaho, Montana, Washington, and 
Wyoming. Grizzly bears are light brown to nearly black and are so named 
for their ``grizzled'' coats with silver or golden tips. Grizzly bears 
in the GYE population and the lower-48 States need access to large, 
intact blocks of land with limited human influence that provide cover, 
high-caloric foods, dens, and areas for dispersal. The specific quality 
and quantity of these resources influence the ability of individual 
grizzly bears to reproduce, grow, and survive at different life stages 
and for the GYE population to be resilient or to withstand stochastic 
events (Service 2024, pp. 99-101). Our SSA report provides our full 
account of the life history, ecology, range, and historical and current 
distribution for the grizzly bear in the GYE population and the lower-
48 States (Service 2024, pp. 39-73).

Summary of Information From the Petition

    The petitioner requests that we establish a DPS for the GYE grizzly 
bear population (GYE DPS). Specifically, the petitioner requests that 
we establish a GYE DPS within the same geographic boundary that we 
established as a DPS in our June 30, 2017, final rule (82 FR 30502), 
which was subsequently vacated. The petitioner did not provide a new 
geographic delineation for the petitioned GYE DPS and instead 
referenced the boundary for the GYE DPS that we described in 2017 
(hereafter, 2017 GYE DPS). In their arguments to support delisting, the 
petitioner indicates that the GYE grizzly bear population's range has 
expanded, including a four-fold increase in the occupied range since 
the time of listing in 1975. The species assessment form provides 
additional summary of the information presented in the petition, 
including a map of the petitioned 2017 GYE DPS.

Summary of Finding

    In determining whether to recognize the petitioned DPS as a valid 
listable entity under the Act, we must base our decision on the best 
scientific and commercial data available. Since 2017, the abundance, 
distribution, and dispersal of grizzly bears within and surrounding the 
GYE has increased. New information supports the petitioner's claim that 
the GYE population has increased in size and distribution, so much so 
that grizzly bears have dispersed and expanded beyond the western 
boundary of the 2017 GYE DPS. The occupied range of the grizzly bear in 
both the GYE and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) 
located to the north of the GYE, has steadily expanded over time. From 
2016 to 2022, occupied range in the GYE increased by 4 percent 
(Dellinger et al. 2023, pp. 22-23) and the NCDE increased by 19 percent 
(Costello et al. 2023, p. 13). As a result, the distance between these 
occupied ranges has decreased and continues to shrink. Models indicate 
that the GYE and NCDE are currently only 98 kilometers (61 miles) 
apart, within grizzly bear dispersal distance (Service 2024, p. 54).
    In the June 30, 2017, final rule, we stated that the DPS Policy 
does not require absolute separation of one population from another and 
that occasional interchange does not undermine the discreteness of 
potential DPSs (82 FR 30502 at 30518). While we still agree with this 
statement, the 2022 estimated occupied range of the GYE population now 
extends beyond the 2017 GYE DPS western boundary. We expect this trend 
to increase over time.
    Additionally, as the populations expand, individual grizzly bears 
are dispersing into new areas outside the estimated occupied range. 
Since 2017, there have been 190 verified observations of grizzly bears 
outside of the current estimated occupied range of grizzly bear 
populations in the lower-48 States. Currently, genetic studies have 
confirmed that at least two grizzly bears originating from the GYE 
population have dispersed beyond the 2017 GYE DPS border (IGBST, 
unpublished data). We have also verified 86 observations of grizzly 
bears outside of the 2017 GYE DPS boundaries and within potential 
connectivity pathways to the NCDE (NCDE Management Zone 2 (NCDE 
Subcommittee 2020, entire)) and to the Bitterroot Ecosystem (Sells et 
al. 2023, p. 6).
    These occurrences outside of areas considered occupied range are 
becoming increasingly common, particularly in areas immediately to the 
north and west of the 2017 GYE DPS. While in most cases the source 
population of such grizzly bears is unknown, a number of them likely 
originated from the GYE population, given their close proximity to the 
GYE. The locations of these verified observations reveal the leading 
edges of grizzly bear expansion within and between ecosystems (see 
Service 2024, Fig. 1) (Dellinger et al. 2023, pp. 22-23). With the 
increasing trends of population growth and expansion over the last 7 
years, we anticipate range expansion

[[Page 3765]]

and dispersal events to continue under current management, including 
the protections of the Act, such that natural connectivity between the 
NCDE population and GYE population will likely occur in the near future 
(Service 2024, p. 54).
    To summarize, information provided by the petitioner and the best 
scientific and commercial data available indicate that grizzly bear 
abundance, distribution, and dispersal have increased, and grizzly 
bears have expanded beyond the 2017 GYE DPS boundary. As a result, the 
petitioned DPS identified in 2017 is no longer based on the best 
scientific and commercial data available and is obsolete. As 
populations have grown and expanded, grizzly bears have dispersed 
beyond the 2017 GYE DPS boundary, often into areas considered to be 
previously unoccupied.
    Under our DPS Policy, a population segment of a vertebrate species 
may be considered discrete if it satisfies either of the following two 
conditions: (1) it is markedly separated from other populations of the 
same taxon as a consequence of physical, physiological, ecological, or 
behavioral factors (quantitative measures of genetic or morphological 
discontinuity may provide evidence of this separation); or (2) it is 
delimited by international governmental boundaries within which 
significant differences in control of exploitation, management of 
habitat, conservation status, or regulatory mechanisms exist that are 
significant in light of section 4(a)(1)(D) of the Act. In determining 
whether the test for discreteness has been met under the DPS policy, we 
allow but do not require genetic evidence to be used.
    Although the DPS Policy does not require absolute separation of one 
population from another, (82 FR 30502, June 30, 2017, p. 30518), the 
standard for discreteness must allow us to distinguish between the DPS 
and other members of the species for purposes of administering and 
enforcing the Act (61 FR 4722, February 7, 1996, p. 4724). As 
summarized above, the best scientific and commercial data available 
indicate that the estimated occupied range of the grizzly bear 
population in the GYE has expanded since 2017. The NCDE population has 
also expanded its range, and the two populations are increasingly 
closer in proximity. Due to this expansion, which is expected to 
continue in the future under current management, including the 
protections of the Act, we no longer consider the 2017 GYE DPS to be 
discrete, as grizzly bears have dispersed and expanded to such an 
extent that it is not markedly separate from other members of the 
taxon. Because grizzly bears within the boundaries of the 2017 GYE DPS 
described by the petitioner are not markedly separated from other 
populations of the taxon, it does not meet the discreteness element in 
the DPS Policy as a consequence of physical, physiological, ecological, 
or behavioral factors (61 FR 4722, February 7, 1996). Therefore, we 
find that grizzly bears in the 2017 GYE DPS do not, on their own, 
represent a valid DPS and we therefore do not consider the status of 
grizzly bears in this petitioned entity as a separately listable entity 
under the Act. Accordingly, we find that the petitioned action to 
establish and delist the GYE DPS is not warranted.
    We are in the process of fully evaluating the latest information 
regarding the status of the grizzly bear in the lower-48 States in a 
rulemaking expected by January 31, 2026. This rulemaking is pursuant to 
a settlement agreement associated with the State of Idaho's petition to 
delist the grizzly bear in the lower-48 States. That rulemaking, to 
either remove or revise the currently listed entity of the grizzly bear 
in the lower-48 States, will fully evaluate the best scientific and 
commercial data available, which could include potential DPSs, while 
considering potential population segment's conservation status and 
Congress's direction to exercise DPSs sparingly and only when the 
biological evidence indicates that such action is warranted. The trends 
of increasing distribution and dispersal point to the need for a 
broader, holistic evaluation at the rangewide level, which will be 
completed as part of the rulemaking already underway. Consistent with 
the DPS Policy, that analysis will require careful consideration of the 
extent to which formerly isolated populations are connected, or likely 
to be connected, and the need for connectivity to small or isolated 
populations and unoccupied recovery zones, given the best and most 
recent biological data available that support a durable recovered 
grizzly bear in the lower-48 States.

Peer Review

    In accordance with our July 1, 1994, peer review policy (59 FR 
34270; July 1, 1994) and the Service's August 22, 2016, Director's Memo 
on the Peer Review Process, we solicited independent scientific reviews 
of the information contained in the SSA report for the grizzly bear in 
the lower-48 States. Results of this structured peer review process can 
be found at https://www.regulations.gov. We incorporated the results of 
these reviews, as appropriate, into the SSA report, which is the 
scientific foundation for this finding.

References Cited

    A list of the references cited in this petition finding is 
available in the species assessment form, which is available on the 
internet at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2022-
0150 (see ADDRESSES, above).

Authors

    The primary authors of this document are staff members of the 
Grizzly Bear Recovery Office, Ecological Services Program.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Martha Williams,
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-00325 Filed 1-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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