The article below appeared originally in the Missoulian August 10th and has been slightly revised. 

A July 17 Missoulian article on settlement discussions about lawsuits over the government's Yellowstone grizzly bear delisting decision included a statement by Hank Fischer of the National Wildlife Federation, a staunch defender of the US Fish and Wildlife Service's delisting decision, who said that, "all of the recovery goals have been met and exceeded."

This is simply not true. In four out of the last five years, the government's own grizzly mortality limits were violated. These limits were breached in 2004, 2005 and 2006, before the bear was taken off the endangered species list in 2007, and in 2008 as well.

In 2008, mortalities were off the chart, when the government estimated that 79 grizzlies died in the Yellowstone ecosystem n more than 13 percent of the total population. In 2007, allowable limits would have been breached if one more female had died. These levels rival those that followed the closure of Yellowstone Park's dumps in 1969 n levels that in four years reduced the population by half and prompted the listing of the grizzly under the Endangered Species Act.

Limiting grizzly mortality is especially important because of the grizzlies' very low reproductive rates, and their vulnerability to human killing, which, along with habitat loss, have reduced grizzly bears to 1 percent of their former range in the lower-48 states. The death of even a few grizzlies, especially females, can mean the difference between a growing or declining population.

One big factor contributing to the tragic grizzly mortality in recent years in Yellowstone is the collapse of two major grizzly bear foods, Yellowstone cutthroat trout and whitebark pine. Researchers have found that whitebark pine seeds are especially critical to the health of the Yellowstone population. But fly over Yellowstone, or hike through its magnificent high country, and you will see vast swaths of orange-needled (dead) whitebark pine n testimony to the perfect storm now under way, caused by mountain pine beetle, a nonnative pathogen blister rust, and global warming, that together, are clobbering whitebark pine. Some experts predict that these forests, which have been shown year after year to determine whether grizzlies prosper or decline, will be functionally eliminated in the next five to eight years in the Yellowstone area.

Another factor contributing to excessive grizzly mortality is the removal of federal protections, which had for nearly 30 years reduced human-caused mortalities of grizzlies in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. Today, without federal protections, the programs, resources and commitment are not in place to adequately address the two leading causes of grizzly bear death: habituation to garbage and other attractants, and conflicts with big game hunters. These conflicts can be expected to grow as grizzlies seek alternative foods to whitebark pine seeds during their fall feeding frenzy. Elk provide an obvious alternative choice for hungry bears, but one that invites problems with hunters.

The world for bears n and all of us n is changing with unimaginable, lightning speed as a result of climate change disruption. These radical changes were not predicted in documents underpinning the grizzly delisting decision, which were written before the current mountain pine beetle epidemic was in full swing.

It is time to stop clinging to an outdated understanding of bears and habitat dynamics in Yellowstone, and wishful thinking that "recovery" has been achieved. This year already 18 grizzlies have died; using the government's formula for estimating reported to unreported mortality, about 27 bears are dead. And big-game hunting season, when roughly half the grizzly deaths typically occur each year, has not yet started.

The government claims that more bears are dying because there are more bears. But this ignores the fact that mortality levels are unsustainable using the government's own standards. No one can deny that the population will go into a tailspin if current trends continue.

Things need to change if future generations are to enjoy the thrill of seeing a grizzly in and around our nation's first park. We need to act now to give bears more space to find alternative foods in suitable habitat, and redouble efforts to reduce human-caused mortality. Given the excessive death toll of grizzlies following delisting, combined with a lack of a meaningful management response so far, federal protections are needed to stop the hemorrhaging, and maintain grizzly bears in Yellowstone.