Although the lower 48 states now have more grizzly bears than it did in the 1970s, biologists and environmental groups argue that more is needed for full species recovery, including a new recovery plan.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s former longtime grizzly bear recovery manager has written a new report that recommends against grizzly bear delisting and details how he believes the federal recovery plan he wrote in 1993 should be updated to treat grizzlies in the Northern Rockies as a single population and to include new research

Instead of managing each of the populations separately, the groups are arguing for a strategy that combines the ecosystems into one large metapopulation, including the lands connecting the bears’ habitat.