Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Inc. v. Servheen

A federal district court in Montana restored threatened-status protection for grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, citing a decline in food supplies caused in part by climate change. The court vacated a March 2007 decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the grizzly bear from the list of threatened species. Specifically, the court held that the FWS’s decision did not adequately consider the impact of climate change and other factors on whitebark pine nuts, a major food source for the animals.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held  that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) failed to justify its Endangered Species Act (ESA) delisting of the grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region because it did not consider the impact of climate change on a key source of the bear’s food supply. The court affirmed the vacating of the agency’s 2007 ruling to remove the bear’s “threatened” status under the ESA. The Ninth Circuit agreed with the district court that FWS did not adequately consider the impacts of climate change on whitebark pine nuts, a major source of food for the bears. The decision stated that FWS’s delisting decision did not articulate a rational connection between the data before it and its conclusion that whitebark pine declines were not likely to threaten the Yellowstone grizzly bear.