Sierra Club: Grizzly Bill Could Reverse Decades of Population Recovery

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Natural Resources Committee considered a bill that poses serious threats to the future of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Area.

The Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2025, introduced by Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), would legislatively strip grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Area from protections under the Endangered Species Act, and eliminate all judicial review.

Decades of work have gone into bringing grizzly bears back from the brink of extinction. From a population high of more than 50,000, the total number of grizzles dropped to below 1,000 in the lower 48 states before the species received protections under the Endangered Species Act in 1975.

The markup represents the latest attack on imperiled wildlife launched by the Trump administration and anti-wildlife members of Congress. In March, House Republicans considered a bill from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) that would strip ESA protections from gray wolves, and another from Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) that would amend the ESA beyond recognition, effectively ending the bedrock law’s ability to protect species on the brink of extinction.

In response, Bradley Williams, Sierra Club’s Deputy Legislative Director for Wildlife and Lands Protection, released the following statement:

“Grizzly bears are one of the country’s most iconic species, and the Endangered Species Act is critical not just to their recovery, but to their survival as a species. We should be investing more resources into this critical law so it can achieve its full potential, but Donald Trump and his congressional allies are working to undermine it to benefit their corporate backers. If this bill becomes law, the effects on grizzlies and other imperiled species could be devastating and irreversible.”