Grizzly Bear Cases 1 Regional Office

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DOI-FWS-2023-003450&type=Request)

* Tracking Number: DOI-FWS-2023-003450
* Requester Name:
Jimmy Tobias
* Date Submitted: 03/20/2023
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

All reports, as well as any declination letters, associated with the following FWS cases investigating illegal grizzly bear take. This request also seeks any electronic communication, including email attachments, sent or received by the regional director, deputy regional director, the Montana state director or the Wyoming state director that reference any of the cases below.

2021604945

2021604944

2021604902

2021604883

2021604835

2021604392

2021604289

2021604117

2021603657

2021602601

2021104832

2021103894

2020603574

2020102096

2019604990

Each of the above numbers is a a case number associated with a FWS investigation into illegal grizzly take. Each case, in turn, should contain multiple reports. You can find specific report numbers associated with each case in the synopsis section of the violation report spreadsheet provided to me by FOIA officers from the USFWS Office of Law Enforcement. I request all reports, in full, associated with each case above. I also request any Justice Department declination letters associated with each case listed above, as well as the specified communications mentioned above. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I am a reporter for The Guardian, The Nation and other outlets.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Tobias

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/

Your request for Fee Waiver for the FOIA request DOI-FWS-2023-003450 has been
determined to be not applicable as the request is not billable.
Additional details for this request are as follows:

* Request Created on:
03/20/2023
* Request Description:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

All reports, as well as any declination letters, associated with the following FWS cases investigating illegal grizzly bear take. This request also seeks any electronic communication, including email attachments, sent or received by the regional director, deputy regional director, the Montana state director or the Wyoming state director that reference any of the cases below.

2021604945

2021604944

2021604902

2021604883

2021604835

2021604392

2021604289

2021604117

2021603657

2021602601

2021104832

2021103894

2020603574

2020102096

2019604990

Each of the above numbers is a a case number associated with a FWS investigation into illegal grizzly take. Each case, in turn, should contain multiple reports. You can find specific report numbers associated with each case in the synopsis section of the violation report spreadsheet provided to me by FOIA officers from the USFWS Office of Law Enforcement. I request all reports, in full, associated with each case above. I also request any Justice Department declination letters associated with each case listed above, as well as the specified communications mentioned above. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I am a reporter for The Guardian, The Nation and other outlets.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Tobias

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
* Fee Waiver Original Justification:
I am a reporter for The Guardian, The Nation and other outlets.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
* Fee Waiver Disposition Reason:
N/A

Dear Jimmy Tobias; DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. INSTEAD RESPOND TO THE CONTACT LISTED AT THE END OF THIS EMAIL.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) FOIA office received your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, dated 03/20/2023, and assigned it control number DOI-FWS-2023-003450. Please cite this number in any future communications with our office regarding your request. Fee Category and Fee
We have classified you as a representative of the news media.  As such, we may charge you for some of our duplication costs, but we will not charge you for our search or review costs; you also are entitled to up to 100 pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free. See .  If, after taking into consideration your fee category entitlements, our processing costs are less than $50.00, we will not bill you because the cost of collection would be greater than the fee collected. (http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0fc3ab3499768eebc2e3691c8cf88dec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=43:1.1.1.1.2&idno=43#43:1.1.1.1.2.7.5.3) 43 C.F.R. § 2.39 See 43 C.F.R. § 2.37(g)
You have asked us to waive the fees for processing your request.  Because there will be no cost associated with processing your request there is no need to address the fee waiver. Multitrack Processing
We use Multitrack Processing to process FOIA requests.  The Simple track is for requests that would generally take one to five workdays to process.  The Normal track is for requests that would generally take six to twenty workdays to process.  The Complex track is for requests that would generally take twenty-one to sixty workdays to process.  The Extraordinary track is for requests that would generally take more than sixty workdays to process.  The Expedited track is for requests that have been granted expedited processing, which are processed as soon as practicable.  Within each track, requests are usually processed on a first-in, first-out basis. Your request falls into the Complex processing track.
Thank you for your interest in the Service.  If you have any questions, you may contact us by email at fwhq_foia@fws.gov, or by mail at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; ATTN: FOIA Office; 5275 Leesburg Pike; MS: IRTM; Falls Church, VA 22041. (mailto:fwhq_foia@fws.gov)

The files attached with this email serves as a final response to your Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Law Enforcement.

Note: The responsive files are provided via file sharing link. https://fileshare.fws.gov/?linkid=KZi4zr6VWWUZIPC+OWIMmIFSspxS9lk88YDODS6ncAGbVD1ear5jlQ

Kenneth Perry
Management Analyst
USFWS, IRTM
703-358-2526
703-358-2192 FAX