On March 29th the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to issue a final rule on the delisting of Grizzly bears from Endangered Species Act protection. Grizzly management will shift to the state. The rule will take effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

Fish and Wildlife officials said federal and state agencies will manage the bears and their habitat together. The budget spent monitoring the bears will increase by more than $1 million per year over the next two years to a total of $3.7 million annually.

The USFWS has recommended delisting gray wolves in the Northern Rockies as well, however, disagreement with Wyoming’s proposed management plan has stalled the process. The service will decide whether to delist the bald eagle by this summer.

About 1,000 plant and animal species are listed by the federal government as endangered or threatened. About 20 species have been delisted because their populations grew stronger; nine have been removed because they became extinct. Source