I know many won’t agree, but the Grizzly recovery is out of hand. The original plan from the 70’s had buy in from all groups (environmentalists, State, Federal, and locals). But like in many things, the environmentalists were given an inch in good faith and have taken a mile. The plan was to restore the bears to a sustainable number in the Greater Yellowstone Area and then allow them to be controlled. Recently, the Fish & Wildlife Service determined that recovered scenario had been reached and the states began to apply to open hunting to control the population as was part of the original agreement. Of course Environmentalists ignored the terms, sued, and liberal judges threw out the plan and we now have an uncontrolled Grizzly population spreading in the inter-mountain West. Bear attacks have gone up substantially over the last decade and will continue to do so as the bears push into more populated areas.

I think Grizzlies are amazing, but with more people coming into the West we are going to see that in the real-world people and Grizzlies don’t mix unless they’re controlled to a small number in a designated area.