Trump and Musk's DOGE ‘functionally destroying' historic Yellowstone grizzly science team
After swimming across the Snake River, one of Grizzly 399's subadult offspring shakes off excess water in May 2022. (Mark Gocke/Courtesy)
A dismayed Chris Servheen is raising the alarm about what's become of federal scientists who have kept watch over the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem's grizzly bear population for the last 55 years.
The group of research biologists and technicians, known as the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, are being hamstrung at best and arguably dismantled, he told WyoFile. For decades, until his retirement in 2016, Sevheen worked closely with the study team while coordinating grizzly bear recovery for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
'It's functionally destroying the organization,' Servheen said. 'The study team has been in place since 1970 — over 50 years of work and experience and knowledge. It's going to just disappear and die.'
Servheen's perplexed about what the Trump administration has to gain.
'How could anybody be so negligent and vile that they're trying to destroy something that has brought grizzly bears back from the edge of extinction?' he said. 'Why would you do that? It's just so destructive.'
Led by Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency's dismantling started with a hiring freeze. Longtime supervisory wildlife biologist Mark Haroldson retired, and his position is not being filled, according to Servheen. Then, the team's longtime leader, Frank van Manen, announced an earlier-than-desired retirement.
'He didn't want to leave,' Servheen said of van Manen, who declined to comment.
According to Servheen, van Manen's departure was related to the federal government's ongoing upheaval.
'They're putting fear into people,' Servheen said. 'That's basically evil, to do that to hard-working people who have been civil servants for decades.'
The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team is part of the U.S. Geological Survey, and its website lists four other employees. Three are technicians, which are often seasonal, entry-level employees. The remaining staff biologist has been in the job about three years.
Although located in Bozeman, many of the federal facility's researchers do work in Wyoming.
'They do all kinds of other stuff: brucellosis and chronic wasting disease and aquatic species,' Servheen said. 'It's a huge science center.'
The planned closure has elicited protests. According to Yellowstonian.org, 42 retired or active biologists petitioned Montana's congressional delegation to use their influence to 'protect (the science center) and its employees from these unwarranted attacks by DOGE.'
Federal offices located in Wyoming have not escaped the closures. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's tribal-focused Lander conservation office and a USGS Cheyenne water science station are among those that have been marked for the chopping block.
WyoFile could not officially confirm impacts to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. Federal agencies under the Trump administration have declined or not responded to WyoFile's requests for more information on downsizing and office closures. An inquiry to a USGS public affairs officer on Thursday yielded no information about the matter.
The Center for Biological Diversity has been pressing the federal agency for details as well. On Thursday, the environmental advocacy organization publicized a Freedom of Information Act request to gain more insight into the future of the federal grizzly team.
Both recently departed veteran study team members — van Manen and Haroldson — are staying engaged in grizzly science in pro-bono emeritus roles, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Nevertheless, Servheen worries that the hit to the science team could trickle down to the grizzly population — estimated at 1,000 or so bears in the Greater Yellowstone — that it's charged with studying.
During the decades, federal researchers have played a pivotal role in improving understanding of the region's bruins, including completing studies that have helped make the case that grizzly bears are fully recovered and no longer require Endangered Species Act protection. They've also amassed mortality and other demographic datasets and compiled an annual report.
'The foundation of Yellowstone grizzly bear recovery has been built on science,' Servheen said. 'Removing that science eliminates our ability to maintain Yellowstone grizzly bears.'
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