Crow Indian Tribe v. United States

The federal district court for the District of Montana vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) final rule delisting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of grizzly bears and restored Endangered Species Act status to the Greater Yellowstone grizzlies. The court agreed with the plaintiffs that the FWS “entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem” because it did not analyze how delisting the Greater Yellowstone grizzlies would affect the remaining population in the lower 48 states. The court also found that the FWS threat analysis was arbitrary and capricious both because it “illegally negotiated away its obligation to apply the best available science” by dropping a “key commitment” to calibrate any population estimator used in the future to the estimator used to justify the delisting and also because the FWS illogically relied on studies to support its determination that the Greater Yellowstone grizzlies could remain independent and genetically self-sufficient when the studies concluded that introduction of new genetic materials was necessary to ensure the grizzlies’ long-term health. The court’s decision cited one of the studies as recommending measures to ensure cross-breeding between ecosystems “particularly given the unpredictability of future climate and habitat changes.”

On August 30, 2018, the federal district court for the District of Montana granted a motion for a temporary restraining order halting the hunting of grizzly bears. Plaintiffs challenging the delisting of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem distinct population segment of grizzly bears under the Endangered Species Act filed the motion after the court heard arguments on the merits of the case earlier in the day. The hunting season was scheduled to begin on September 1. The plaintiffs have asserted a number of problems with the FWS’s decision-making, including a failure to adequately consider the impacts of climate change on the grizzly bears.