CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- A lawyer for several environmental groups says he hasn't decided whether he will honor a request from Gov. Dave Freudenthal to file in Wyoming any planned lawsuit over the federal government's plan to lift protections for grizzly bears.

Freudenthal last week wrote to lawyer Doug Honnold of Bozeman, Mont., an attorney with the environmental nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, urging him to file any legal challenge in Wyoming.

"Yellowstone National Park is in Wyoming and is the incubator that no doubt saved grizzly bears from extinction in the lower 48 states," Freudenthal wrote. He noted that federal law could allow a legal challenge to be filed in a number of different venues.

"The lawsuit should be heard in Wyoming, which has played a major role in the recovery of the bear," Freudenthal wrote.

Honnold represents eight environmental groups that notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this month that they intend to file a lawsuit in 60 days if the agency's delisting decision is not reversed.

The groups say the estimated 500 bears now living in and around Yellowstone National Park aren't enough to guarantee long-term survival of the population.

in the face of pressures such as global warming and habitat loss.

Honnold said Monday he hasn't yet responded to Freudenthal.

"I have not written back to him; I've forwarded the letter to my clients," Honnold said. "And I think as a lawyer representing clients, we'll look at all the options about taking into consideration all the reasonable factors where we should file a lawsuit."

Whatever the venue, Honnold said it appears a lawsuit over the proposal to remove federal protections for the bears almost certainly will be filed somewhere.

"I think groups are pretty intent on filing a lawsuit," Honnold said. "I would be shocked if we didn't file a lawsuit. We think this is the wrong decision, and we don't think it should stand."

Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, said Monday that he agrees with Freudenthal that any lawsuit over the future of federal protections for grizzly bears should be heard in Wyoming. Childers is chairman of the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.

"Unfortunately, a number of the people venue shop for a favorable judge," Childers said. "And it makes sense to me that if they are going to file a lawsuit on the future of the grizzly bear, that they do it in Wyoming because most of the grizzly bears are here."

Removing federal protections from the bears would leave them under state management and open the possibility that they could be hunted for sport for the first time in decades.

Childers said he believes that hunting grizzly bears would reduce what he said has been an increasing number of conflicts between humans and bears in the area.

"Many of us feel that if they delist the grizzly and they put a reasonable hunting season on, the grizzlies are going to be a lot smarter about staying away from humans," Childers said.