CODY, Wyo. (AP) - Gov. Dave Freudenthal has written to a Montana lawyer who represents environmental groups asking that any lawsuit challenging the government's plan to remove grizzly bears from federal protection be filed in Wyoming.

Federal authorities last month announced that grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park no longer need the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

The Yellowstone area of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho had an estimated 136 to 312 grizzlies when the species was listed as threatened in 1975, but has more than 500 of the bears today, the government said.

That announcement prompted immediate criticism from environmental groups, with many saying that global warming is hurting the bears by reducing the supply of their food, such as pine nuts and wild trout.

At least one environmental group said it plans to pursue either a lawsuit or some form of congressional intervention to stop the delisting.

"We are committed to fighting this foolish plan and we are going to use whatever tools we have at our disposal," Craig Noble of the Natural Resources Defense Council said last month.

Freudenthal on Tuesday wrote to Doug Honnold of Bozeman, an attorney with the environmental nonprofit law firm Earthjustice. Honnold represents the NRDC and several other environmental groups that might challenge the delisting decision.

"If a lawsuit is to be filed concerning the future of the grizzly bears, logic and common sense dictate that such action should be filed where the bears live," Freudenthal wrote to Honnold.

"Since you are obviously intent on suing about the proposed rule, I will not attempt to dissuade you on this front," Freudenthal wrote. "I am writing, however, to request that you file your lawsuit in Wyoming, the state that will be most directly affected by a ruling concerning delisting."

Freudenthal wrote that finding a judge in some distant location to hear the case would foster further public cynicism concerning the Endangered Species Act and judicial review of decisions made under it.

State Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, said he agrees with Freudenthal's position. Childers is chairman of the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.

"Many lawyers venue-shop for the judge that's the most favorable to their cause," Childers said.

But Childers said that because most of the bears live in Wyoming, "the governor is saying it's only right that a Wyoming judge and Wyoming people should be involved."

According to Freudenthal's letter, Honnold also represents the Sierra Club, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Humane Society of the United States, Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, Great Bear Foundation and Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.

Last month, Honnold said grizzly bears "live in a world of shrinking habitat due to warming weather. The Fish and Wildlife Service didn't see global warming coming and has no game plan for the loss of whitebark pines and the related harm to grizzlies."

A phone message left at Honnold's office Saturday was not returned. A residential listing could not be found.