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	LEARN MORE Why Grizzly Bears Matter Path to Grizzly Recovery July 7, 2005 Press Release
	CONTACT INFORMATION NRDC's Wild Bears Project P.O. Box 70 Livingston, MT 59047 phone: (406) 222-9561

As many as 100,000 grizzly bears once roamed the western United States, but they were killed off and their habitat destroyed -- only about 1,500 inhabit the lower 48 states today.

Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1975 because their numbers had dwindled to the brink of extinction. Yellowstone's grizzlies have since rebounded to 500 to 600 bears, but now the Bush administration is planning to revoke endangered species protections, jeopardizing these bears' long-term survival. Officials are expected to announce their plan within days or weeks.

Stripping endangered species protection from Yellowstone's bears would open their habitat to oil and gas drilling and other development and would allow hunters to kill bears that roam outside the park. The states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho all have plans to allow grizzly hunting when the bears are delisted.

"Federal protection is the only reason these bears exist in Yellowstone today, and they aren't ready to survive without it," said Louisa Willcox, director of NRDC's wild bears project. "It is a tremendous success story, but the last chapters aren't yet written. Delisting the Yellowstone bear prematurely would drive it back to the brink of extinction."

last revised 8.24.05