NY Times: CO2 is allegedly causing increased grizzly mortality and reduced grizzly reproduction; also the greater Yellowstone grizzly population has tripled over the last 35 years

A Victory for Grizzly Bears - NYTimes.com

The core of the bears’ habitat and a major source of their food — whitebark pine forests — have been devastated by climate change. Historically, harsh winters protected these forests from infestations of the pinebark beetle. But the beetle has prospered as winters have warmed, killing hundreds of thousands of acres of whitebark pine. The court explicitly acknowledged the role climate change has played in the destruction of these forests.

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s argument has been that grizzlies are doing well (and presumably would continue to do well) even without the pine seeds from whitebark pines. The court rejected that, writing that the agency had ignored a well-established relationship between “reduced whitebark pine seed availability, increased grizzly mortality, and reduced grizzly reproduction.”

Federal protections have allowed the grizzly population in the greater Yellowstone region to triple to about 600 animals over the last 35 years.