Yale Researcher Critical Of Grizzly Delisting

A wildlife researcher at Yale University says he's concerned about proposals to remove  grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act..

Dr. David Mattson says the de-listing would come at a time when the bears are seeing two  of their major food sources become increasingly scarce.

Mattson says the nut of the whitebark pine tree is becoming rare because beetle infestations are wiping out the tree that produces the nuts. He says that's because milder winters caused by climate change are no longer killing off the beetles, as typically used to happen.

Mattson says a second major food source for the bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem, cutthroat trout are also becoming scarce. That's mostly because lake trout introduced into the ecosystem are eating the cutthroats.

Mattson says that leaves the bears with two other major food sources--meat from bison and elk, and army cutworm moths. But mattson says because elk populations are also declining significantly the bears are increasingly turning to livestock, creating more bear/human conflicts.

Mattson says further evidence of the decline in bear habitat can be found in the bear populations in the area, which he says are at best about the same as they were in 2000-2001. He says there is some evidence to show the populations are actually lower than in those years.

He says all in all the evidence is clear that now is not the time to remove federal protections for the bears.