WHY THE PUBLIC LANDS RULE MATTERS FOR BEARS
- The Bureau of Land Management’s 2024 Public Lands Rule was designed to safeguard the health of our public lands and the wildlife that depends on them. It emphasizes conservation, landscape connectivity, and responsible land use to ensure species like bears, wolves, and other wildlife have the habitat they need to thrive.
- Now, the Department of the Interior is proposing to roll back this rule. If rescinded, it could weaken protections for critical habitats, making it harder for bears and other species to find food, travel safely, and reproduce. Strong, connected public lands are essential for wildlife survival and for the health of our ecosystems.
- We need your voice to help keep these protections in place.
- Send in your public comments to let Senators know your thoughts by November 10, 2025!
BLACK BEARS HUNTING SEASON — OPEN FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
- The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is inviting public comments on proposed updates to Chapter 3, Black Bear Hunting Seasons. This regulation sets hunting seasons and limits for black bears in Wyoming. Wyoming is one of the states that still allows baiting of black bears even though we spend copious amounts of time and money trying to keep bears away from human-provided foods through a statewide agency program and nonprofit programs. Baiting is not fair chase nor supported by any science.
- At this stage, the Department has not yet completed its analysis of the past three years of harvest data. Once that information is available, additional proposed changes, such as adjustments to season dates, female mortality limits, or hunting structures, will also be opened for public review and comment before any in-person meetings are held around the state.
- Comments on the current draft regulation are due by 5 p.m. on December 8.
NEW REPORT OUTLINES BLACK BEAR KILLINGS NATIONWIDE
- Newly compiled data by Humane World for Animals, formerly called the Humane Society of the United States, reveal that more than 1 million bears (1,014,773) have been legally trophy hunted in the U.S. between 2000 and 2024. An unknown number of dependent cubs also died after trophy hunters killed their mothers.
- While the numbers of hunters have declined in the U.S. over the past two decades, in contrast bear hunting is on the increase. In 2000, 34,000 bears were hunted compared with 51,000 bears hunted in 2023, the deadliest year for bears during the period 2000-2024. Despite increases in bear hunting throughout the country, polls have shown that 76% of American voters oppose black bear trophy hunting.
WE WON! JUDGE HALTS GRAZING EXPANSION IN KEY GRIZZLY HABITAT
- A federal judge has stopped the U.S. Forest Service from expanding livestock grazing in grizzly bear habitat north of Yellowstone National Park. The ruling found that the agency failed to properly analyze how increased grazing on six allotments in Montana’s Paradise Valley would impact grizzly bears, violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
- The area serves as an important connection between the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide grizzly populations—two of the Lower 48’s largest and most genetically significant bear populations. Conservation groups argued that expanded grazing could increase conflicts leading to bear deaths, further limiting recovery and connectivity.
- The court’s decision sends the proposal back to the Forest Service for further environmental review. Ranching groups have expressed disappointment, while wildlife advocates call it a win for science-based management and grizzly recovery.
- Learn more in the joint press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, and other partners about the court’s decision to halt expanded grazing in critical grizzly habitat near Yellowstone.
WATCH: THE CHOICE
- The Choice is more than a wildlife series — it’s a lens on the shifting relationship between people and the wild. Blending intimate character-driven storytelling with high-stakes conservation journalism, the series follows real animals navigating landscapes shaped by policy, perception, and pressure.
- From Yellowstone’s famous roadside bears to hidden conflicts beyond the park’s edge, The Choice explores how fear, politics, and love for wildness collide, and what that means for the future we choose.
- All the episodes are great, but this one is particularly interesting: The War Over Grizzly Bears: Hunting vs. Conservation
- A conservation success story leads to a new kind of war. After decades of protection, the grizzly bear population is thriving in Yellowstone. But with their numbers finally recovering, a new battle has emerged: the fight over delisting—and the potential for a grizzly bear hunting season.
- This episode of The Choice pulls back the curtain on this complex debate. We confront the political battle between hunters, conservationists, and the bears themselves. We explore the paradox of a comeback and ask a fundamental question: is hunting about managing the bears, or are we simply managing ourselves?
GRIZZLIES AND BLACK BEARS ARE WORTH MORE ALIVE!
- Say it louder for the people in the back!!! We have been saying this for years and research keeps backing it up.
- Bears bring value to the landscapes they inhabit. Not only in intangible value like the joy and connection to nature people get from seeing a bear in the wild, but cold hard cash too.
- A new study found that each individual bear in the GYE has a value of at least $46,000. Grizzly bears in total bring $7 million and black bears bring $9.7 million in viewing value with individual grizzlies being worth $46,000 and individual black bears being worth $15,000.
- Where bears go, money follows.
- From our Executive Director: “Combs appreciates the study as a resource for future discussions on conservation and tourism, but she believes quantifying the economic value of Yellowstone’s wildlife is too complex to be determined by any study.”
- “You couldn’t put a value on a human’s life, and I feel like it’s the same way with this study,” she said. “When I’ve been in Yellowstone, a bear is a bear is a bear. People stop and look, whether it’s a black bear or a grizzly bear.
- “One of the reasons this place is so popular is because of our wildlife. Bears are at the top of the list, and we can’t forget the value that brings to people’s lives and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.”
Photo Credits:
- Grizzly Bear in Snow: Allie Swafford
- Black Bear: Ben Bluhm
- Paradise Valley Landscape: Yellowstone Sky Photography
Graph: Humane World for Animals
- The Choice: Tilting Tripods Wildlife
- Grizzly Bear: Votography Images Vo von Sehlen
