The public comment period for proposed changes to the management status of grizzly populations in several Western states is open until August 17 at the Federal Register. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) researched and wrote a recovery plan for the conservation and survival of grizzly bears. “The latest iteration of this plan was published in 1993, and it identified five recovery zones in the lower 48 states with known populations of grizzly bears … . More recently, in 2023, the FWS determined that two distinct grizzly populations had met or exceeded population goals and so could be delisted. “The science is more than clear: grizzly bears have recovered and far exceeded every federal recovery benchmarks.