The Latest: Sides weigh in ahead Wyoming grizzly hunt vote

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The Latest on a vote in Wyoming that would allow grizzly bears to be hunted for the first time since 1974 (all times local):

1 p.m.

People on both sides of a debate over whether Wyoming should allow grizzly bear hunting for the first time since the early 1970s are speaking up.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission plans to vote on a proposed grizzly hunt Wednesday.

Bonnie Rice with the Sierra Club tells commissioners ahead of the vote that the hunt would be irresponsible. Rice says grizzlies still face a range of threats and allowing them to be hunted could set back conservation efforts by decades.

Wyoming rancher and former Game and Fish commissioner Charles Price says hunting should be part of controlling grizzly bear numbers.

If approved, the hunt would allow as many as 22 grizzlies to be hunted this fall in a wide area outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

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12:00 a.m.

Wyoming will decide Wednesday whether to allow grizzly bear hunting for the first time in decades.

Under the proposed rules before the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, hunting would begin Sept. 1 in the mountains and basins farthest from Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Hunting closer to the parks would begin Sept. 15 and end in all areas by Nov. 15.

Environmental groups and Native American tribes say the hunt would undermine decades of work to restore grizzlies in the Yellowstone ecosystem. About 700 grizzlies now inhabit the region that includes parts of Idaho and Montana.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed protections for Yellowstone-area grizzlies in 2017 after listing them as a threatened species since 1975.

Montana has not yet allowed grizzly hunting. Idaho will allow one grizzly to be hunted this fall.