Editor's note: Many Yellowstone grizzly bear biologists truly believe the science supports delisting. We think it's premature, and the courts agree, because of uncertainties surrounding the demise of the whitebark pine — which provides a key food source for the Yellowstone grizzly bear. Most important, those same scientists say they need two more years to thoroughly determine the ramifications of whitebark pine on the Yellowstone grizzly bear. Our message to Gov. Mead, as quoted in a recent Fox News story: Let the scientists do their work.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead wants to fast track efforts to delist Yellowstone grizzlies, but Cody conservationist and bear expert Chuck Neal told the Cody Enterprise Gov. Mead is pandering to the "ecologically illiterate and politically powerful."

Neal is a retired ecologist who worked for the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and did contract work with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. He's the author of Grizzlies In The Mist.

Gov. Mead recently wrote Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar asking him to remove Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone grizzlies ASAP.

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