page_title: Grizzly bear
section_title: Protection
hierarchical_section_title: Grizzly bear / Interaction with humans / Protection
caption_attribution_description: A sign directing campers to the location of secure bear caches, restrooms and campsites.
context_page_description: The grizzly bear, also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a large population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
  Multiple morphological forms sometimes recognized as subspecies exist, including the mainland grizzly, Kodiak bear, peninsular grizzly, and the extinct California, Mexican, and Ungava-Labrador grizzlies. On average, bears near the coast tend to be larger while inland grizzlies tend to be smaller.
  The Ussuri brown bear, inhabiting Russia, Northern China, Japan, and Korea, is sometimes referred to as the "black grizzly", although it is a different subspecies from the bears in America.
context_section_description: The grizzly bear is listed as threatened in the contiguous United States and endangered in parts of Canada. In May 2002, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the Prairie population (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba range) of grizzly bears as extirpated in Canada. As of 2002, grizzly bears were listed as special concern under the COSEWIC registry and considered threatened under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  Within the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concentrates its effort to restore grizzly bears in six recovery areas. These are Northern Continental Divide (Montana), Yellowstone (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho), Cabinet-Yaak (Montana and Idaho), Selway-Bitterroot (Montana and Idaho), Selkirk (Idaho and Washington), and North Cascades (Washington). The grizzly population in these areas is estimated at 750 in the Northern Continental Divide, 550 in Yellowstone, 40 in the Yaak portion of the Cabinet-Yaak, and 15 in the Cabinet portion (in northwestern Montana), 105 in Selkirk region of Idaho, 10–20 in the North Cascades, and none currently in Selway-Bitterroots, although there have been sightings. These are estimates because bears move in and out of these areas, and it is therefore impossible to conduct a precise count. In the recovery areas that adjoin Canada, bears also move back and forth across the international boundary.
  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claims the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk areas are linked through British Columbia, a claim that is disputed. U.S. and Canadian national parks, such as Banff National Park, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and Theodore Roosevelt National Park are subject to laws and regulations designed to protect the bears.
  On 9 January 2006, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to remove Yellowstone grizzlies from the list of threatened and protected species. In March 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "de-listed" the population, effectively removing Endangered Species Act protections for grizzlies in the Yellowstone National Park area. Several environmental organizations, including the NRDC, brought a lawsuit against the federal government to relist the grizzly bear. On 22 September 2009, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy reinstated protection due to the decline of whitebark pine tree, whose nuts are an important source of food for the bears.  The bears were again removed from protection by the Trump administration in 2017.  It was argued that the population had sufficiently recovered from the threat of extinction, however numerous conservation and tribal organizations argued that the grizzly population remained genetically vulnerable. They successfully sued the administration (Crow Tribe et al v. Zinke) and on July 30, 2019, the Yellowstone grizzly was officially returned to federal protection.
  Farther north, in Alberta, Canada, intense DNA hair-snagging studies in 2000 showed the grizzly population to be increasing faster than what it was formerly believed to be, and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development calculated a population of 841 bears. In 2002, the Endangered Species Conservation Committee recommended that the Alberta grizzly bear population be designated as threatened due to recent estimates of grizzly bear mortality rates that indicated the population was in decline. A recovery plan released by the provincial government in March 2008 indicated the grizzly population is lower than previously believed. In 2010, the provincial government formally listed its population of about 700 grizzlies as "Threatened".
  Environment Canada consider the grizzly bear to a "special concern" species, as it is particularly sensitive to human activities and natural threats. In Alberta and British Columbia, the species is considered to be at risk. In 2008, it was estimated there were 16,014 grizzly bears in the British Columbia population, which was lower than previously estimated due to refinements in the population model.
  The Mexican grizzly bear (Ursus arctos nelsoni) is extinct.
caption: A sign at a BC Park warns campers to hang food, garbage, and toiletries out of reach of bears, or to use a secure bear cache
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