The grizzly bear population in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has grown, but conservation groups says the species is still too vulnerable to remove Endangered Species Act protections./NPS, Jim Peaco file photo

A proposal to remove protections for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has prompted Wyoming Wildlife Advocates to launch a petition opposing the change.

The petition, which has more than 85,000 signatures, calls on President Obama and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe to continue Endangered Species Act protection for the bears and states that “threats to grizzlies will significantly increase after delisting and have the potential to quickly reverse the work of 40 years.”

Earlier in March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing the species from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, noting the population has increased fivefold and has doubled its range to an “area larger than the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined” since the mid-1970s. The agency also said monitoring and conservation strategies would continue after delisting by federal, state and tribal partners.

“The restoration of the grizzly bear in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho during the last three decades stands as one of America’s great conservation successes – a testament to the value of the Endangered Species Act and the strong partnerships it drives,” the agency said at the time. “The Yellowstone grizzly bear population has rebounded from as few as 136 bears in 1975 to an estimated 700 or more today.”

Although environmental groups have been supportive of these efforts to recover the grizzlies, many say the population is too vulnerable to remove from protection. Delisting places the bears under the authority of the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, all of which have announced intentions to allow trophy hunting of grizzlies, according to Wyoming Wildlife Advocates.

“Grizzly bears are one of the slowest reproducing mammals in North America, and the GYE bears are an isolated population,” Kent Nelson, the executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, said in a release. “Hunting them threatens ongoing recovery and reduces the possibility that they will link up with the northern population.”

Nelson notes that numerous threats remain for the grizzly, many related to a decades-long warming trend that the region is experiencing.

“When the US Fish and Wildlife Service attempted to delist GYE grizzlies in 2007, they received 200,000 public comments. 98 percent of those comments favored keeping grizzlies protected under the Endangered Species Act,” he said. “This clearly expressed public opinion was ignored by the USFWS and it was only through a judicial order that grizzlies retained their ESA protections.”

The proposed rule can be reviewed at the Federal Register, where comments are being accepted through May 10 by clicking the “Comment Now!” button.