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Giving states more authority over surging grizzly populations will help the bears flourish.
Grizzly bears are a recovery success story, and the federal government is finally acting like it. The Trump administration recently proposed giving states more authority to manage their grizzly populations, unveiling a novel plan to boost the bears’ recovery in the Lower 48. Predictably, environmentalists are up in arms, charging that loosening federal regulations could lead to “more dead grizzly bears.”But the complaints ignore an important truth about conservation: Aiding the recovery of endangered species often requires cutting regulations, not adding more.
The federal government’s plan would gradually give Montana, Idaho and Wyoming more authority to manage their surging bear populations as conservation benchmarks are met. Grizzlies would remain protected under the Endangered Species Act, but hitting these goals could bring lighter regulation and greater management flexibility for the states.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Washington Post
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Shawn Regan is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.