Under a new rule, grizzly bears would be protected by the Endangered Species Act in Washington, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

The Biden administration is keeping protections in place for more than 2,000 grizzly bears in western states despite requests to lift the safeguards.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it is proposing a new rule that would protect grizzly bears as a single population in Idaho, Washington, Montana and Wyoming, while offering land owners and land management agencies some flexibility to deal with problem animals.

The decision will likely anger the officials of several northern states, which have demanded the right to take over bear management from U.S. Fish

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied petitions to delist grizzly bears Wednesday, saying the species is still threatened in the Northern Rockies.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has denied Montana and Wyoming’s petition to delist grizzly bears in the Greater Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems

Environmentalists are applauding the much-anticipated decision from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but there is a catch.

Federal officials also said they will reclassify the grizzly’s status so that ranchers would be able to shoot bears that are killing livestock.