BOZEMAN, Mont.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today denied petitions to remove Endangered Species Act protections from grizzly bears, finding that the imperiled animals still need federal protection.

The agency simultaneously issued a proposed rule that would loosen restrictions on when grizzly bears can be killed. The proposal also creates a boundary limiting where grizzly bears receive federal protections, excluding places like California and Colorado, where the bears once lived and abundant habitat remains.

“I’m relieved that the Fish and Wildlife Service found that grizzly bears still need Endangered Species Act safeguards,” said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “With ongoing federal protections, grizzlies in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades will have a real chance at long-term recovery, instead of being gunned down and mounted on trophy walls.”

For now, this decision ends an effort by Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to strip grizzly bears of federal protections.

The Service has previously attempted to delist grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem twice. The last time the agency issued a delisting rule, in 2017, Wyoming and Idaho immediately rushed to approve hunting seasons. In September 2018, before hunting seasons began, the U.S. District Court of Montana vacated the delisting rule and issued an injunction to prevent the hunts. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals later affirmed the district court’s decision.

Today’s proposed rule would permit the killing of grizzly bears in more situations than under current regulations. For example, property owners would be allowed to kill bears actively attacking livestock.

“While grizzlies won’t be killed by state-sponsored trophy hunts, I’m concerned that their recovery will be harmed as more bears die at the hands of the livestock industry,” said Zaccardi. “We’ll advocate to maintain all protections that keep grizzly bears alive until recovery is reached.”

Historically grizzly bears ranged from Alaska to Mexico, with an estimated 50,000 bears occupying the western half of the contiguous United States. Today grizzly bears occupy just 6% of their historical range in the lower 48 states, surviving in four isolated locations in the northern Rockies, where the current population is just over 2,000 bears.

Grizzly bear numbers in and around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks have improved since the animals were first protected in 1975. But the bears continue to be threatened by isolation from other grizzly populations and human-caused deaths.

Science shows that connections among grizzly bear populations are needed for genetic health, but habitat destruction along with killing and removing bears that wander outside arbitrary protected areas continue to prevent this crucial connectivity. Connectivity between grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems could significantly improve the bears’ genetic diversity.

Dispersal of bears from the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is needed to restore bears to other areas where they once lived and could again thrive. For example, the Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem has been identified as a recovery zone for grizzly bears but currently hosts no grizzly bear population. Removing protections from bears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem would thwart the potential for those bears to travel to nearby unoccupied areas.

“Now federal agencies should focus on improving connectivity between regions and growing the small grizzly bear populations in the Bitterroots, Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirks,” said Zaccardi. “We know the states can’t be trusted to manage grizzly bears, and ongoing federal protections will keep grizzlies on the path to recovery.”