Abstract:
In this Article, we explore how (1) differences in the role of the
ESA for the management of grizzly bear and gray wolf populations,
and (2) changes in the legal regime associated with delisting of the
gray wolf, both affect species conservation and transjurisdictional,
ecosystem-based management efforts in the complex institutional
landscape of the GGR of northwest Montana. We believe the ESA
has played the central role in efforts to implement ecosystem-based
management over the past two decades in a wide range of settings, so
these differences and likely changes in the legal regime are likely to
affect the success of such efforts. The experience of grizzly and wolf
management in the GGR is therefore relevant for the conservation of
wide-ranging predators and ecosystem-based management in other
locations across the United States and within the West.