Experts agree that the grizzly bear would have disappeared in the lower 48 states but for protections afforded in 1975 by the Endangered Species Act.

As many as 50,000 to 100,000 grizzlies roamed the west before Europeans arrived, but fewer than one thousand (or one to two percent) remained in the lower 48 at the time of listing in the Northern Rockies and North Cascades. This was due to habitat destruction and excessive killing of an animal with one of the lowest reproductive rates in North America.

Endangered Species Act protections stopped grizzly hunting. The law also prompted cleanup of garbage dumps and other sources of human foods, thereby minimizing grizzly-human conflicts. The Act also helped reduce harmful developments, roadbuilding and logging in key habitat, and domestic sheep grazing, which was a major source of human-bear conflicts and grizzly mortality.

Grizzly recovery has been slow. The two largest populations are in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. In November 2005, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared Yellowstone grizzly bears recovered and proposed plans to remove the bears from the Endangered Species Act's list of threatened and endangered species. National Wildlife Federation supports this decision. See our video about why we support grizzly delisting in Yellowstone.

Support NWF's conservation efforts by symbolically adopting a Grizzly Bear today.