Groups plan to sue Idaho over bear baiting after grizzly’s death
SharePrint
Illustration courtesy of Idaho Fish and Game
By BILL BULEY
Staff Writer | July 16, 2024 1:07 AM
Conservation organizations Monday sent a notice of intent to sue Idaho for violations of the Endangered Species Act over state hunting authorizations that put grizzly bears at risk, a press release said.
In June, a grizzly was killed by a hunter at a black bear bait station near St. Maries after being misidentified by Idaho Department of Game and Fish.
The incident demonstrates “the urgent need to reform the practice now that grizzly bears are beginning to return to Idaho on their journey to recovery,” a press release said.
“Bear baiting takes the lives of grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies and robs the wild of these remarkable animals,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney at WildEarth Guardians. “The State of Idaho is putting grizzly bears in unacceptable peril, compromising their prospects of recovery and leading to tragic, preventable, illegal and all too predictable deaths, like the incident we witnessed last month in Saint Maries.”
The male grizzly bear was shot and killed June 10 near the Lower St. Joe River about 5 miles from the town of St. Maries, “an area not commonly used by grizzly bears,” the release said.
A June 18 Fish and Game press release said that two days prior to the incident, the hunter recorded video of the bear at the bait site and sent it to Fish and Game for review.
“The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and not a black bear,” the release said. “Unfortunately, Fish and Game staff misidentified the young bear as a black bear because it lacked some common features of a grizzly and shared that misidentification with the hunter.”
Fish and Game posted two videos of the bear in question. The first, 46 seconds, showed what looked like a black bear wandering around. Then, a smallish brown bear enters the area and runs toward the black bear, which retreats.
In the second video, 24 seconds, the brown bear walks around.
The Press filed a public records request with Idaho Fish and Game in regards to the incident. It sent The Press a text exchange between the hunter and Fish and Game,
“Let me know what u think. I’m sure it’s a grizzly,” the hunter wrote.
In response, Fish and Game wrote:
“Im sorry it’s a color phase black bear. I had two other officers look at the video as well.
“Thanks for checking, always better to be safe about it!
“I see what you’re seeing on his shoulder, but the ears scream black bear. It flattens out later in the video too.
“That is a solid black bear, too bad he’s all scraped up.”
The hunter wrote back: “Ya his face looked like black bear but his claws were long maybe showed up better because of his color and no hair. Thanks glad I was wrong.”
“Us too,” Fish and Game responded, “we do not need griz in the Joe.”
Most of Idaho’s grizzly bear populations are in the northern Panhandle area and the area in and around Yellowstone National Park in Eastern Idaho.
“But young male grizzlies may wander long distances and into areas where people don’t expect to encounter them,” a Fish and Game release said. “These young male bears typically wander through an area, but don’t remain there.”
The U.S. Forest Service reported that about 35-40 grizzly bears reside in the Selkirk Mountains with another 30-40 occupying the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem of Idaho and Montana.
Grizzly bears are protected under state and federal law, “and bear hunters are responsible for proper identification of their target,” a Fish and Game release said. “All hunters are encouraged to review their bear identification skills to avoid mistaken identity.”
Fish and Game could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
Greg LeDonne, Idaho director of Western Watersheds Project, said Idaho is violating the Endangered Species Act when it issues licenses to black bear hunters to use bait sites in grizzly bear habitat.
“It puts grizzly bears at risk not just of being killed accidentally when they are mistaken for black bears, but of becoming habituated to human food sources and being killed when they display nuisance behavior,” he said.
Dana Johnson, attorney and policy director with Wilderness Watch, said grizzly bears are making their way home across Idaho after “decades of persecution.”
“Rather than celebrating their return and doing everything possible to ensure their safe passage and existence, Idaho continues to sanction the luring and killing of black bears in areas where grizzly bears live and travel,” Johnson said in the release. “The recent killing of a grizzly bear by a black bear hunter was tragic and completely preventable. We’re submitting this notice of intent to sue to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The Notice of Intent to Sue gives the state 60 days before the groups file a lawsuit. Western Environmental Law Center sent the letter on behalf of WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Wilderness Watch and Friends of the Clearwater.
Idaho Hunter Avoids Charges for Killing Grizzly Because State Wildlife Officials Misidentified the Bear, Too
Officials say the hunter sent them a recorded video of the bear and they told him it was a black bear
By Dac Collins
Posted On Jun 21, 2024 6:06 PM EDT
3 Minute Read
On June 10, an Idaho hunter contacted the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to self-report that he’d shot and killed a grizzly bear that he’d misidentified as a black bear. Normally, the hunter would’ve faced serious repercussions for the mistake. Grizzlies are still federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, and killing one for any reason other than defending human life can result in steep punishments of $50,000 in fines and up to a year and jail. In this instance, however, IDFG officials say the hunter was not cited because they had also misidentified the bear.
The agency announced Tuesday that it had concluded its investigation into the incident, which took place over a legal black bear bait site on U.S. Forest Service land near the lower St. Joe River and the town of St. Maries. IDFG pointed to “extenuating circumstances” around the hunt, including the fact that grizzly bears aren’t known to inhabit that part of the Idaho panhandle. Wildlife officials also couldn’t justify citing the hunter because they’d misidentified the same bear just a couple days before, effectively giving him permission to take the shot.
“Two days prior to the incident, the hunter recorded video of the bear at the bait site and sent it to Fish and Game for review,” IDFG explained in the press release. “The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and not a black bear. Unfortunately, Fish and Game staff misidentified the young bear as a black bear because it lacked some common features of a grizzly, and shared that misidentification with the hunter.”
The agency said the incident underscores the importance of properly identifying black bears and grizzly bears, especially since young male grizzlies are known to wander long distances from their home range. Some black bears are brown, and some grizzly bears are black, IDFG points out, so hunters should focus on a few key features that grizzlies typically have, including a dished facial profile, prominent shoulder hump, and two- to four-inch-long claws.
This is easier said than done, however, and the key features IDFG points to are more prominent one some bears than others. There have been several instances of hunters mistaking grizzlies for black bears in the northern Rockies, one of which involved a fatal grizzly attack more than 10 years ago.
Rare grizzly sighting reported in North Fork of Salmon River area, near Montana state line
SALMON– Idaho Fish and Game officials have confirmed a grizzly bear sighting in the North Fork Salmon River area near the Montana border. The bear was photographed by a game camera on May 23, and the bear was clearly identified as a grizzly. It is not known if the bear is still in the area.
Bear hunters in Units 21, 21A, 30 and adjacent units need to carefully identify their targets and should not assume any bear they see is a black bear.
Idaho Fish and Game confirms first grizzly bear sighting west of I-15
DUBOIS — Idaho Fish and Game officials are confirming the first grizzly bear sighting in the Dubois area.
Trail camera footage provided to Fish and Game confirms the presence of a grizzly bear in Game Management Unit 59. That’s west and across Interstate 15 from Dubois in Clark County, according to James Brower with Fish and Game. The bear was photographed on May 31.
It’s unknown if the bear is still in the area, but hunters and other forest users should be “bear aware,” a news release on Tuesday said.
As grizzly bear populations expand, bears are venturing into new areas to find food, mates, and other resources, officials said.
The following headline is erroneous in that is states feds plan to introduce grizzlies. The USFWS is actually planning to write an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to recover grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem, which may or may not include reintroducing them. The EIS is supposed to be completed by November 2026.
After 31 Years, Feds Move Ahead with Plans to Introduce Grizzlies to Bitterroot Mountains
The Bitterroot Mountains of Montana and Idaho are one of the six grizzly bear recovery zones in the Lower 48, but they still don’t have a breeding population
By: Katie Hill
Posted On January 18, 2024
3 Minute Read
A few grizzlies have already dispersed into the Bitterroot Mountains from other populations in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems. Photograph by Neal Herbert / NPS
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Wednesday a public scoping procedure and new environmental impact statement for recovering a breeding population of threatened grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Mountains of southwestern Montana and eastern Idaho. The announcement comes 31 years after the Bitterroot Ecosystem was first identified as one of six grizzly bear recovery zones in the Lower 48. It has also been 23 years since the USFWS made the final decision to reintroduce the experimental, non-essential population in the area, a stretch of time that was deemed an unreasonable delay by the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in March.
Now, the USFWS has until November 2026 to issue a new environmental impact statement and decision on the matter. The agency will be accepting public comments on the plan until March 18.
The Bitterroot Ecosystem was identified a grizzly bear recovery zone in 1993, as part of a supplement to the 1982 species recovery plan. In November 2000, the USFWS issued a final environmental impact statement and record of decision to reintroduce the bears. But the feds didn’t take any major action to actually begin that reintroduction, protect habitat for the threatened grizzlies that wandered into the area on their own, or set up a citizen’s advisory committee to involve the public in the process. On March 15, U.S. District judge Donald Molloy ruled that the USFWS had not taken proper steps to act on their November 2000 decision and had unreasonably delayed the recovery, following a lawsuit filed by Alliance of the Rockies against USFWS grizzly bear recovery coordinator Hilary Cooley.
Some bears from the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone recovery zones have dispersed into the Bitterroots, due to their proximity. Map by USFWS.
In conversations about grizzly bear recovery in the Lower 48, the Bitterroot ecosystem has long been accompanied by an asterisk. In other recovery zones like the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems, grizzly populations have steadily expanded out of Glacier and Yellowstone national parks and hit certain benchmarks for recovery in recent years. But the Bitterroot ecosystem has always been a place biologists and wildlife managers hypothesized bears would eventually repopulate on their own. Bears dispersing from the NCDE and GYE are likely to wander into the Bitterroots, based on the proximity of all three areas.
To a certain degree, they did just that; reports of grizzlies in the area have popped up in recent years. But the bears that have so far ranged into the Bitterroot ecosystem have yet to achieve benchmarks for a breeding population, which requires two breeding females or one breeding female with two consecutive litters, according to the USFWS. Now the feds’ only option is to try putting one there, considering the mandate resulting from last year’s lawsuit.
The USFWS is asking for public comment on the situation for the next 60 days. Public meetings with virtual access will occur on Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. MST, Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. MST, and Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. MST.
FWP reports grizzly bear sightings in Missoula area, 3 confirmed in Bitterroot in 3 days
Jessica Abell Aug 4, 2023 Ravalli Republic
This 274 pound, 3-year old male was captured in the Sapphire mountains near Florence, MT in August during a black bear research capture effort. The bear was released on site as it had not caused any conflicts.
With grizzly bears getting captured in the Sapphire Mountains and photographed on the fringe of the Missoula Valley, state wildlife officials are expanding their outreach efforts to avoid conflicts this summer.
Last Monday a grizzly bear was captured at a black bear research trapping site at MPG Ranch in the northern Sapphire Mountains near Florence. The 275-pound, 3-year-old adult male had previously been tagged as part of a pre-emptive capture in the southern Flathead Valley in December of 2021 by Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal wildlife managers. FWP Bitterroot Bear Manager Bruce Montgomery and a co-worker collared and released the grizzly on Monday after it was determined to have no history of conflicts with humans.
Then, 22 hours later, another grizzly showed up at the same site. It was not caught. In addition to those two bears, a young male grizzly who was documented in the Bitterroot Valley last fall recently crossed Interstate 90, according to Montgomery, and is now in the Sapphire Mountains — making three confirmed grizzly bear sightings in the Bitterroot Valley in three days.
“Not only are there black bears in the valley right now, grizzly bears are coming in,” Montgomery said. “They’re here.”
FWP has received reports of grizzly bears in different drainages just outside of Missoula over the past few months, according to a statement released by the agency on Wednesday. Several reports point to a likely grizzly but remain unconfirmed, while others have been verified. All serve as a reminder to be extra bear aware.
The Bitterroot Valley isn’t the only area grizzly bears have been active recently. A grizzly bear was confirmed in the Nine Mile area west of Missoula on Wednesday according to Montgomery, and a photograph taken in July just north of Missoula confirmed a grizzly bear in the north hills area near Snowbowl.
There have also been several unconfirmed reports of a grizzly bear in the Woods Gulch area of the Rattlesnake and Marshall Mountain area recently. Though the reports are unverified, grizzlies have been documented passing through these areas before, and details of the sightings are consistent with a grizzly bear according to FWP. There have been three unconfirmed sightings in the Clinton area recently as well.
Grizzly bear activity in the greater Missoula area has been steadily increasing over the past 10 years. The area sits between established grizzly bear populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the southeast and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to the northwest. As the bears travel between areas with established populations, they are dispersing into places where their populations don’t see the numbers they reach in other parts of the state.
Montgomery was able to determine through a genetic database that the bear collared and released at MPG Ranch on Monday is the brother of another grizzly bear that was previously documented in the Bitterroot Valley. Both grizzlies were born to a sow known to spend most her time in the Swan Valley.
“They were brothers,” Montgomery said. “They were born to the same mother in different litters, and they both ended up at the Sapphires. The mother spent most of her time in the Swan Valley. This yearling went over and was captured in 2021 on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Both those bears ended up in the Sapphires. I believe that we’re just at a point that the populations have expanded from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to where these are just the areas they’re showing up in now.”
https://442dfebcd99d6eacb6965ba95ee134f3.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html A number of food-conditioned bears have been euthanized across the state in recent weeks in western Montana. A 5-year-old sow grizzly was euthanized by park rangers at Glacier National Park on July 20 after the bear was reported taking food from a picnic table at Many Glacier Campground in June and later charged a family picnicking on the lakeshore near the Swiftcurrent Lake Boat Launch. Earlier the same week FWP officials euthanized a grizzly near Hungry Horse Reservoir that had been raiding campsites and boats.
Bears become food conditioned by receiving human food rewards such as trash, human food, livestock feed or pet food. A food-conditioned bear can quickly become a nuisance bear, as they can become aggressive in attempts to obtain the food source.
Safety in bear country
As the grizzly bear population continues to expand across Montana, there are steps residents can take to minimize human/bear conflicts. FWP recommends storing garbage in an IGBC-certified bear-resistant bin or other similarly reinforced container or inside a building until the day of disposal. Do not put garbage out the night before pick-up. Avoid leaving food or smell attractants next to windows, doors or outside walls. Do not leave pet food, bird feeders or bird seed out. Secure barbecues and smokers in hard-sided buildings when not in use. Bears are attracted to fruit-bearing trees and bushes, gardens and compost piles. FWP recommends routinely picking fallen and ripe fruit. Electric fencing can be effective at deterring bears as well. Secure vulnerable livestock (chickens, goats, sheep) with an electric fence whenever possible.
It’s also important for people recreating in bear country to be aware and take steps to avoid conflicts. FWP recommends that people make sure to carry bear spray and know how to us it. Travel in groups whenever possible and plan to be back to your vehicle in the daylight hours. Avoid carcass sites and concentrations of ravens and other scavengers. Watch for signs of bears such as bear scat, diggings, torn-up logs and turned over rocks. Make noise, especially near streams or in thick forest where hearing and visibility is limited — this can be the key to avoiding encounters. Most bears will avoid humans when they know humans are present. And above all, if you see a bear, do not approach it.
For more information on being bear aware, visit fwp.mt.gov/bear-aware.
————————————–
Below is a news release from Governor Brad Little of Idaho.
May 10, 2023
Idaho sues feds on grizzly delisting
Boise, Idaho – The State of Idaho sent notice of its intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) today over the Biden Administration’s failure to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list.
“Idaho’s entire congressional delegation and the State of Idaho are lockstep in efforts to delist grizzly bears. Idaho has continually demonstrated leadership in species management, and we have never hesitated to push back on the federal government’s overreaching actions that greatly impact a variety of activities on the ground in our state,” Governor Brad Little said.
“Politicians in Washington continue to use outdated endangered species protections to encroach on state sovereignty. In their desire to stop Idahoans from hunting or managing our own destiny, they pretend Idaho cannot handle the management of species. Our state intends to conserve our grizzly populations while balancing the need for limiting dangerous human-bear interactions. This issue, like most, belongs in the hands of the state, not the federal government,” Attorney General Raúl Labrador said.
Over one year ago, Idaho petitioned for delisting the “lower-48” grizzly bear because it does not qualify as a “species” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under the ESA, the USFWS was required to make a 90-day finding by June 7, 2022, but failed to do so. In February of 2023, Governor Little sent a letter to USFWS demanding the agency uphold the law and make a required finding on the State of Idaho’s petition to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list. The agency responded with a decision, and the State of Idaho has been working on its appeal of the decision. The appeal was filed today.
“The State of Idaho has been and continues to be 100-percent committed to the conservation of grizzly bears, as the actions of local communities, landowners, recreationists and state government have demonstrated. This action is in response to a flawed ESA listing almost 50 years ago that has now become a barrier to the delisting of recovered populations,” Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks said.
“What is needed is a commonsense approach to delisting healthy populations of grizzly bears where they exist and continue working with rural communities to reduce human-bear interactions as bear populations increase elsewhere. Unfortunately, the State of Idaho must turn to the judiciary to request relief from the tangled web of ESA case law to work to achieve a commonsense solution,” Governor’s Office of Species Conservation Administrator Mike Edmondson said.
The State of Idaho’s notice states, in part, “Idaho does not send this notice lightly. We prefer to invest the resources of federal and state conservation agencies on actual conservation, rather than on lawsuits. However, the current listed entity does not meet the ESA definition of ‘species,’ and we have robust grizzly bear populations that continue to cause conflict in our rural communities and injure Idaho’s sovereign interests in managing our resident wildlife and conservation resources.”
The State of Idaho’s 60-day notice of intent to sue the federal government is available here: https://gov.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/20230510_60-day-notice-grizzly.pdf
# # #
Timeline to restore grizzly bears in Bitterroot released
Grizzly bears like this one in Yellowstone National Park could be returning to the Bitterroot Ecosystem along the Montana-Idaho border under a new work plan proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Rob Chaney Missoulian April 17,2023
It will take almost four years to develop a new plan for restoring grizzly bears in wild country along the Montana-Idaho border, according to a proposed workplan submitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
FWS filed its response on Friday to a federal court ruling ordering the agency to reconsider a grizzly reintroduction plan for the Bitterroot Ecosystem that had lain dormant for 22 years. In Alliance for the Wild Rockies et. al. vs FWS, grizzly recovery coordinator Hilary Cooley and the State of Idaho, U.S. District Judge Don Molloy ruled that FWS had “unreasonably delayed” implementing its own 2000 decision to transplant 25 grizzlies to the recovery area.
“Now, almost 40 years have passed, and nothing has been done; no bears, no community advisory committee, no community or other educational instruction in towns or schools for bear safety, safe practices in garbage storage techniques, and other ways to reduce attracting bears,” Molloy wrote on March 15. He gave FWS until April 15 to present an updated timeline.
Judge orders new work on Bitterroot grizzly plan
“Because of the change in circumstances arising from individual bears dispersing within the Bitterroot Ecosystem with greater regularity, the Service plans to take a fresh look at its strategy for supporting restoration of grizzly bears to the Bitterroot Ecosystem,” FWS wrote in its response to Molloy. “With the preparation of an EIS (environmental impact statement), the Service anticipates considering a range of alternatives, including options to facilitate natural recolonization through affirmative actions, such as identifying connectivity areas, addressing sanitation issues, future augmentation, and/or revising the recovery plan chapter for the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Because of the substantial public interest in the restoration of grizzly bears to the Bitterroot Ecosystem, the Service will conduct a public scoping process to invite input on the possible range of alternatives for consideration in the draft EIS.”
The case grew out of an effort in the 1990s to create an experimental population of grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem — one of six recovery areas designated as grizzly habitat under the Endangered Species Act protection plan. While the 25,140-square-mile expanse of the Bitterroots along the Montana-Idaho border and an extensive roadless and wilderness complex farther west in Idaho were historic grizzly strongholds, the entire population was killed off in the early 20th century.
After almost 15 years of public debate and scientific research, FWS approved a plan to transplant 25 grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem in 2000. Unlike naturally occurring grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems, those Bitterroot bears would be an experimental population managed through a local community advisory committee.
But the FWS plan was finalized just as President Bill Clinton’s administration was transitioning to that of President George W. Bush. Bush’s Interior Department officials changed course in 2001 and chose a “no action” option. Confusingly, that 2001 proposed rule was never officially adopted.
“We’re very happy the Fish and Wildlife Service has committed to initiating a whole new National Environmental Policy Act process,” Alliance for the Wild Rockies Executive Director Michael Garrity said in an email on Monday. “That will include an open and transparent process, including public review and comment, to produce a Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statement and a new Record of Decision, rather than supplementing the outdated, never-implemented decision from two decades ago.”
Garrity called the Bitterroot Ecosystem “the lynchpin to recovering and delisting grizzly bears because it is the connecting corridor between the Cabinet-Yaak, Selkirk, Northern Continental Divide and Yellowstone ecosystems grizzly populations.”
Feds seek input on grizzly bear reintroduction to North Cascades
Grizzlies have had “threatened” status under the federal Endangered Species Act since 1975. Their recovery plan envisioned assisting or creating viable populations in six recovery areas of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington. Two of those areas, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, now support about 1,000 grizzlies each.
But the other areas have struggled. Even with some transplanted bears, the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk recovery areas each have around 50 grizzlies. The North Cascades recovery area had a handful of bears but now appears to have no resident grizzlies.
The Bitterroot recovery area also has no confirmed resident grizzlies. But it has seen a growing number of bears from other areas exploring its landscape as well as other nearby Montana mountain ranges to the east.
Gianforte releases grizzly delisting plan
The lack of a comprehensive recovery plan in the Bitterroot Ecosystem has meant some grizzlies captured there have been relocated back into their original ecosystems, instead of being allowed to colonize the new landscape.
FWS noted its workplan schedule “accounts for the agency’s significant workload and limited resources.” That includes another proposed grizzly reintroduction effort in the North Cascades Ecosystem. It also contends with FWS’s 12-month review of petitions from Montana and Wyoming to delist grizzlies from ESA protection in the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems.
Threat or thrill? Where do grizzlies go from here?
The Bitterroot plan will include participation with the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks and several national forests. Public scoping of the process should begin this winter. A final record of decision could be released around October 2026.
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
Federal officials reject Idaho’s petition to delist grizzly bears as endangered species
ERIC BARKER Lewiston Tribune Feb 3, 2023
Federal officials signaled Friday that they have rejected Idaho’s petition to strip Endangered Species Act protections from grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states.
At the same time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicated more modest proposals submitted by Wyoming and Montana merited closer examination. Officials from the agency will spend the next year further studying petitions from Idaho’s neighbors.
Montana asked the federal government that grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, a vast area in northwest Montana centered around Glacier National Park, be removed from the endangered species list. There are about 1,000 grizzly bears in the population. Likewise, Wyoming asked for the grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population, also about 1,000 strong, to be stripped of federal protections.
Idaho has far fewer grizzlies — about 50 in the northern tip of the state and a small fraction of the Yellowstone population in its southeastern coroner. But Gov. Brad Little and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game submitted a petition last year seeking to remove ESA protections for grizzlies across the entire Lower 48 states, arguing the initial listing of the bears in 1975 was in error.
On Thursday, Little sent a letter to Interior Sec. Deb Haaland and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams that threatened to file a lawsuit if the agency didn’t act on its petition. The Fish and Wildlife Service published an advanced note in the Federal Register on Friday saying the Montana and Wyoming petitions may be warranted but Idaho’s was unconvincing.
“We also found that a petition to delist the grizzly bear in the lower-48 states on the basis of it not being a valid listable entity did not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned actions may be warranted; therefore, we will take no further action on that petition,” according to the Fish and Wildlife Service note that will be published in full on Monday.
A 1993 grizzly bear recovery plan set the stage for the bears to be delisted based on numbers in certain recovery areas, such as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. However, the petition says court rulings, often based on the way bears were originally listed, have prevented that from happening.
Yellowstone-area grizzly bears were delisted in 2017, but a 2020 court ruling restored federal protections based on multiple factors, including how it would affect bears outside of the recovery area.
Idaho also claims that because there are 60,000 grizzly bears combined in Canada and Alaska, the animals should not be considered endangered.
Little said Idaho prefers the state and federal government to spend limited resources on recovery rather than litigation.
“However, we cannot continue to accept vague excuses and inexplicable delays by USFWS representatives concerning grizzly bear delisting,” he wrote. “The current listed entity does not meet the definition of ‘species’ under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), we have robust grizzly bear populations that continue to cause conflict in our rural communities, and we have addressed the concerns of prior judicial reviews.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service frequently misses deadlines on petitions to add or remove plants and animals to the list of federally protected species and often faces lawsuits because of it. For example, a coalition of environmental and animal rights groups sued the agency last year after it failed to act on their petition to restore ESA protections to gray wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The case is pending and the service has not yet made a determination on the petition.
Several grizzly bears being seen in the northern Bitterroot Valley
Grizzlies recently seen in Lolo and Florence areas
Photo by: MTN News
By: MTN News
Posted at 7:46 AM, Aug 24, 2022
and last updated 8:28 AM, Aug 25, 2022
MISSOULA – State wildlife officials are reporting that several grizzly bears have been spending time in the northern Bitterroot Valley this month.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) says verified sightings of two bears most recently have been on the east side of the valley, in the river bottoms and edges of the Sapphire Mountains near Florence and Lolo.
javascript:false
Grizzly bears don’t inhabit the Bitterroot Valley in numbers as they do in many other parts of western Montana, grizzlies are moving into more places. Activity in the Bitterroot Valley has steadily increased over the past 10 years, according to FWP.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear specialist Jamie Jonkel, said the recent sightings serve as a reminder of the bears’ natural expansion and the possibility of being present in more places.
“We have established populations of grizzly bears to the northwest and southeast of us, so seeing bears moving through the greater Missoula area and Bitterroot is becoming more common,” Jonkel said.
Two sub-adult grizzly bears were first noted in the lower Blackfoot Valley earlier this month before beginning to move south. The Blackfoot sits on the southern end of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE), an established population of grizzly bears, and is a fairly typical spot to see grizzlies.
After moving out of the Blackfoot, the pair began venturing further south, where it is less common to see grizzlies. FWP linked together a series of sightings, photos, and video, which showed they first crossed Interstate 90 just east of Missoula, near Turah, around Aug. 4, according to a news release.
The bears then traveled south into the Sapphire Mountains and were sighted again near Florence, in the northern Bitterroot Valley, a few days later. The animals are believed to be around two years old, which FWP notes is a natural time for some bears to begin venturing out and exploring new territory.
Although the bears were reported to cross U.S. Highway 93 and spend a little time on the west side of the Bitterroot Valley, FWP officials say they are now believed to be back on the east side of the valley.
The grizzlies were most recently seen in the Bitterroot River bottom, just south of Lolo, on Aug. 18. The tracks of a possible third grizzly bear have also been reported in the same area.
Jonkel says that although the bears are active and near human activity enough to be noticed, he hasn’t heard of any conflicts with people or livestock so far. They seem to be exploring but naturally trying to keep their distance.
“We’d like to do all we can to keep it this way,” Jonkel said. “This time of year, our valleys draw bears looking for berries and other food sources. If we can keep them away from unnatural foods like garbage, bird and pet food and other attractants, they’ll hopefully keep on moving along and exploring their natural habitat.”
Black and grizzly bears can be found throughout much of the western half of Montana with FWP noting it’s important to review bear safety tips and keep areas around homes free from bear attractants to prevent issues for bears and people.
Consider these tips:
- Be aware of your surroundings and look for bear signs.
- Read signs at trailheads and stay on trails. Be especially careful around creeks and in areas with dense brush.
- Carry bear spray, have it close at hand and know how to use it.
- Travel in groups whenever possible and make casual noise, which can help alert bears to your presence.
- Stay away from animal carcasses, which often attract bears.
- Follow food storage orders from the applicable land management agency.
- If you encounter a bear, never approach it. Leave the area when it is safe to do so.
FWP notes that keeping bear attractants secure, out of a bear’s reach, is especially important.
People also should keep clean areas when camping, store food and any other scented attractants securely away from sleeping areas and follow all food storage regulations.
Additionally, around homes, people should keep garbage indoors until the day of collection, remove bird feeders when bears are out and active, consider using electric fencing around chickens, garden areas and compost piles, and move other attractants such as pet food, dirty barbecue grills and ripe fruit indoors or into a secure building.
Visit the FWP Bear Aware website at https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/bear/be-bear-aware for additional information on living, working, and recreating in bear country.
People can report new sightings of grizzly bears in the greater Missoula area and Bitterroot Valley by contacting the Missoula FWP office at 406-542-5500.
June 2022
ANOTHER SELKIRK GRIZZLY KILLED BY CARELESS HUNTERS
NAPLES — An investigation has found that a grizzly bear shot by hunters in Ruby Creek drainage on June 8, was done so in self-defense, Idaho Department of Fish & Game officials said.
The hunters were actively hunting black bears, and had just harvested one in the Ruby Creek drainage. As the hunters worked towards retrieving the harvested black bear, a grizzly bear appeared out of the dense brush and began approaching them, IDFG officials said in a press release.
IDFG said the hunters backed away from the grizzly bear and began yelling at the animal, but it continued toward them undeterred. As the grizzly got closer, one of the hunters discharged his firearm at close range, killing it.
The bear was a sub-adult male. Neither hunter was injured during the encounter, IDFG officials said.
After the incident, one of the hunters reported the incident to Boundary County Dispatch, which then routed the information to local IDFG conservation officers. Fish and Game officers then responded to the scene with the hunters, conducted an investigation, and recovered the bear carcass.
IDFG said the investigation determined the bear was killed in self defense.
Grizzly bears, which are protected under state and federal laws, may be encountered in North Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone areas. When in bear country, IDFG officials recommend the following tips:
- Carry bear spray and keep it accessible
- Hunt with partners and make each other aware of plans
- Look for grizzly bear signs, including fresh tracks. Let partners know if you see them
- Retrieve meat as quickly as possible
- Hang meat, food, and garbage at least 200 yards from camp and at least 10 feet off the ground
- When not hunting, make noise, especially around creeks and thick vegetation. Most attacks occur by inadvertently surprising a bear at close range
Black bears are common throughout the Idaho Panhandle. Grizzly bears are most commonly observed in the Cabinet and Selkirk mountain ranges in Game Management Unit 1 but have also been infrequently observed in units 2, 3, 4, 4A, 6, 7, and 9.
ANOTHER VERIFIED GRIZZLY BEAR IN THE BITTERROOTS NEAR SALMON
SALMON – Idaho Fish and Game officials have confirmed a grizzly bear sighting in the North Fork area north of Salmon, an area not typically known for having grizzlies. The bear was photographed by a hunter’s game camera on May 14, and the bear was clearly identified as a grizzly. It is not known if the bear is still in the area.
Homeowners, recreationists and hunters are asked to be “Bear Aware” and remove any possible food attractants, such as garbage, animal feed, or other food items.
Bear hunters in Units 21, 21A, 28 and adjacent units need to carefully identify their targets and should not assume any bear they see is a black bear.
Most of Idaho’s grizzly bear populations are in the northern Panhandle area and the area in and around Yellowstone National Park in eastern Idaho. But young male grizzlies may wander long distances and into areas where people don’t expect to encounter them. These young male bears typically wander through an area, but do not remain there.
Grizzlies are rare in the Salmon area. The last confirmed sighting in Salmon area was in 2020 from video footage of a young male grizzly bear southeast of Salmon. That same year, another grizzly was confirmed south of Grangeville.
Grizzly bears are federally protected in Idaho, so there is no hunting season for them. You can learn more about grizzly management on Fish and Game’s Conservation and Management webpage.
Outdoor recreationists are reminded that grizzlies and black bears are part of Idaho’s landscape. Taking some simple, preventive measures and using common sense will go a long way towards minimizing bear conflicts.
STATES ATTEMPT TO DELIST GRIZZLY BEARS IN MONTANA, WYOMING, AND IDAHO
In December 2021, Montana along with Wyoming petitioned the USFWS to delist grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). The GYE has been petitioned for delisting multiple times leading to a temporary delisting followed by court injunctions leading to relisting. The USFWS has had to review and resubmit proposals for delisting following these setbacks.
As far as the population size, regulatory mechanisms, and the three other areas of concern for listing go, the GYE has probably reached recovery status. Given that the population is continuing to grow and spread out from the GYE, bears are moving into previously unoccupied habitat showing up as far north as the Salmon/Challis National Forest in Idaho. This is a good thing for bears. However, the states seem to think it isn’t.
Montana used to be the most level- headed state of the three, approaching grizzly and wolf management with a tone of compromise and use of strong management based in science. I fear under the new governor, that may no longer be happening.
Montana has also recently petitioned for delisting of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE). The NCDE bear population has also increased in size and distribution, another wonderful success story for grizzly bears and the USFWS, National Park Service, US Forest Service, and especially Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks department. The dedicated bear management specialists in western Montana have worked tirelessly to keep bears alive and with the least amounts of problems. They have integrated extensive outreach into their management activities and educated a rapidly increasing public. The agencies and NGOs have taken on an incredible task and have been very successful. The bear population has increased as a result, again migrating into previously unoccupied habitats to the south, east, and west.
Now, Idaho Department of Fish and Game is looking to petition the USFWS to delist grizzly bears in Idaho. However, there is not nearly the success in Idaho to warrant delisting. Idaho wants to include the Selkirk ecosystem in with the NCDE and Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystems (CYE), hanging on the shirttails of a successful NCDE effort, to delist bears in Idaho as well. The Selkirk population is genetically distinct from the NCDE. Bears from the Selkirks and CYE are the ones that are moving into the Bitterroots. IDFG wants to delist bears in the Bitterroots and declare the Ecosystem as a non-grizzly bear recovery area. This goes against everything that Idaho has worked for over the last 40 years, recovery (not just delisting) of grizzly bears in Idaho’s ecosystems, including the BE.
Why is that? Too much of a headache? Sure, we know bears are a headache, especially black bears of which Idaho has nearly 20,000. But what is wrong with a few handfuls of grizzly bears in central Idaho wilderness? Why is the director worried about that? Why is the commission worried about that? Well, I suppose you put a fish biologist in charge of an agency, they will see the world through the eyes of a fish. Grizzly bears in central Idaho need to be recovered in order to delist, not delist in order to prevent recovery. I don’t think that will happen any time soon, but for some damned reason, that is the direction my old agency, the agency charged under Idaho code to “Preserve, protect, perpetuate and manage all wildlife for the benefits of Idaho citizens…” is going. We can’t let them derail what so many of us have worked so hard for over the last 50 years, true grizzly bear recovery.
WESTERN MONTANA AND BITTERROOT VERIFIED GRIZZLY ACTIVITY
Below is a great link to a story about a grizzly bear that traveled to Idaho and around Montana and stepped into the experimental population (under the 2000 designation by the USFWS) area of the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Her name was Ethyl, a 20- year- old female that roamed some 2,800 miles while she was being monitored with a GPS radio- collar. Her travels showed how grizzly bears can move around and among humans without us knowing about them, again proving that they can survive among us if we let them.
This story is part of the Lee Enterprises series “Grizzlies and Us.” The project examines the many issues surrounding the uneasy coexistence of grizzly bears and humans in the Lower 48, which have come more into focus in recent years as the federally-protected animal pushes farther into human-occupied areas. The 10-part series, comprised of more than 20 stories, was produced by reporters and photojournalists across the Rocky Mountain West.
From Idaho to Montana, Ethyl the bear rambled 2,800 miles | Local News | missoulian.com
More Western MT locations seeing grizzly bears (kbzk.com)
The link above is a western Montana local television story with map of recent locations and grizzly activity in and near the Bitterroot Ecosystem.
SENATORS ATTEMPT TO DELIST GRIZZLY BEARS IN THE YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM
Rob ChaneyMar 25, 2021 The Missoulian
Claiming that grizzly bear recovery must be “determined by science, not by activist judges,” Sen. Steve Daines renewed his effort to delist grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem on Thursday.
The Republican senator co-sponsored the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2021, which would cancel the bear’s threatened status and protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in the recovery area surrounding Yellowstone National Park. Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming wrote the bill, which was also co-sponsored by fellow Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso and Idaho senators Mike Crapo and James Risch, all Republicans.
The legislation would reinstate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2017 final rule delisting GYE grizzlies and block the move from any judicial review. Management of the approximately 750 grizzlies would be under state control if those bears step outside the borders of Yellowstone National Park (where they remain under National Park Service management).
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen vacated the rule in 2018, in part because state wildlife managers in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho overruled FWS biologists on how to update a statistical model for counting grizzlies. He also ruled that FWS misused scientific studies about the bears’ genetic connectivity in ways that “ignored the clear concerns expressed by the studies’ authors about long-term viability of an isolated grizzly population.”
The Republicans’ bill mimics a maneuver used by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in 2011 that reinstated a delisting rule for gray wolves and blocked further judicial review. The wolf delisting had also been blocked in court. Last year former Wyoming Republican Sen. Mike Enzi introduced the same grizzly bill as Lummis, which Daines also co-sponsored. It received a Senate committee hearing but no further action.
“The science is clear: The grizzly bear population has more than recovered in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Area,” Daines said in a press release on Thursday. “Wildlife management must be determined by science, not by activist judges. Montana-led management is what’s best for our communities, public safety, ecosystems, wildlife, and the grizzly bear itself. It is time to delist the grizzly bear and return management to Montana.”
Grizzly advocates maintain the bears would not be safe under state management, especially if Montana, Wyoming and Idaho go ahead with the grizzly trophy hunting seasons each state considered before the 2017 rule was overturned.
“It’s disturbing to see Western lawmakers try to blatantly sidestep the science showing that grizzly bears should remain federally protected under the Endangered Species Act,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re hopeful this bill dies a quick death in Congress.”
BIOLOGISTS PREPARE AS GRIZZLY BEARS MOVE INTO THE BITTERROOT REGION
By: Laura Lundquist – Missoula CurrentPosted at 8:27 AM, Nov 14, 2020 and last updated 8:28 AM, Nov 14, 2020
MISSOULA — More grizzly bear sightings south of Missoula means federal and state agencies and residents of the Bitterroot region need to do more to prepare for a resident grizzly population.
The Bitterroot Ecosystem subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee this week announced it had formed a new science committee in June to prepare for the time when grizzly bears finally come to stay in the Bitterroot.
Mike Pruss, Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest wildlife program manager, said the committee would meet more often than twice a year to fill in a lot of missing information.
“The other ecosystems already have science teams that have been very active over the past decade or so,” Pruss said “We know that we’ll have some outsized challenges because those other ecosystems had bears to study and had information about those bears from which to make decisions. We’ll be borrowing heavily from science from those areas – a lot of the science from our own area, the Bitterroot ecosystem, is absent.”
Over the first two meetings, the committee came up with short-term and longer-term projects to get a better idea of where bears might be and prepare to monitor bears once they become established.
Identifying migration corridors is one of the short-term priorities, and University of Montana researcher Sarah Sells is taking the lead there. Using data already gathered from collared female bears, she’ll be using computer models to identify and chart the corridors.
“We’re going to be borrowing heavily from data collected other places. Of course, connectivity is a critical thing for us because natural recolonization of the Bitterroot ecosystem is really the only opportunity for recovery here,” Pruss said.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator Hilary Cooley will be leading another short-term project: using game cameras and hair traps to find where bears are.
Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear biologist Jamie Jonkel has received an increasing number of reports of bears this year. Not all were confirmed as grizzly bears but some videos and photos leave no doubt.
Jonkel had a list of locations where bears have been seen around Missoula, including a male grizzly west of Lolo in September, one in the upper Miller Creek area in October, and another in the Missoula North Hills a few weeks ago. There have also been verified reports in the Garnet Mountains east of Missoula, the Fish Creek Recreation Area west of Missoula, and on the south side of the Anaconda Range, which is adjacent to the Sapphire Mountains.
Cooley said she used that kind of information to determine the best places to set up game cameras within target areas in the Bitterroot Range northwest of Missoula and south of I-90 through the Sapphire and Anaconda mountains and in the Beaverhead and Pioneer mountains around the Big Hole Valley.
“We want to catch where we have verified sightings over the past few years and it also relates to linkage areas especially north of the Bitterroot,” Cooley said.
If a bear passes one of the game cameras, biologists hope a set of bristles placed nearby can snag some hair that they can use for genetic identification.
Cooley said she had hoped to start the study this past summer, but COVID-19 ruined those plans since volunteers will do some of the work. So she’ll try again next year. If she has the funding, Cooley would like to put cameras out for at least two years: the first year would get initial information, and if some sites don’t reveal anything, she could fine-tune those locations in the second year.
“We’re not trying to do a full systematic survey. We don’t have a grid system we’re laying over,” Cooley said. “Right now, it’s just targeting those areas where we know we have had bears in the past or good spots where Jamie (Jonkel) says this would be a good place to put a site up.”
Pruss said long-term projects include mapping out where bear-monitoring units should be in the Bitterroot ecosystem based on female range size and conducting human-attitude surveys. FWP just completed such a survey for the state of Montana and another subcommittee did one earlier in the Cabinet Yaak area.
In the meantime, subcommittee members have been working to make the Bitterroot more bear aware. Jonkel said funding from Vital Ground, Heart of the Rockies Initiative and Defenders of Wildlife has helped him put a lot of bear-resistant containers in place.
At Lolo Hot Springs and the Jack Saloon along U.S. Highway 12, he was able to take care of a long-standing problem with attractants by installing bear-resistant dumpsters and electric fence around grease pits.
Heart of the Rockies funding bought 36 bear-resistant cans for the community of Lolo and the community council is working on reducing attractants in the town. Another Heart of the Rockies grant bought food-storage boxes for all the fishing access sites and state parks in the Bitterroot Valley. They’ll be installed in the spring, Jonkel said.
Other private landowners have used a Defenders of Wildlife program to install electric fencing around livestock pens and other areas of concern.
Garbage is always a concern at campgrounds, but especially after COVID-19 increased public pressure this past year. Rangers had to introduce many visitors to leave-no-trace practices, so visitor education will be needed in the future, in addition to expanded garbage collection at front-country campgrounds and rental cabins, said Amy Baumer of the Salmon Challis National Forest.
“This summer brought a lot of challenges,” Baumer said. “The pandemic brought additional use in the recreation sites and trails in the Bitterroot National Forest, and it also brought in a different demographic. A lot of folks that were visiting were not familiar to the out-of-doors like you typically see in a nonpandemic year.”
The subcommittee will summarize its report when the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee meets in early December.
After slew of sightings, new signs of Idaho grizzlies are barely there
BY ERIC BARKER LEWISTON TRIBUNE
JULY 14, 2020 04:00 AM
If 2019 was the year of the grizzly for north central Idaho, its successor is shaping up to be something less than that.
At least for now.
It’s true that grizzly bear news came out of the gate hot this spring when what looked like fresh tracks were found in snow near Fish Creek Meadow above Grangeville. But since that time, any grizzly bears roaming the wilds of Clearwater Country, if they exist, have kept a low profile.
Idaho Fish and Game officials plucked hair samples from the tracks near Fish Creek Meadow and submitted them for genetic analysis. Toby Boudreau, wildlife bureau chief from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Boise, said laboratory experts were not able to extract DNA from the hair.
Hair samples associated with another set of grizzly-like tracks found near Grangeville this spring came back as belonging to a black bear, said J.J. Teare, regional supervisor for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston.
“Melting snow can make for big-looking tracks, but we do have some very large black bears in the region that do lay down some big tracks,” Teare said. “The identifying feature for grizzly bear track is claw length from the front of the pad.”
Teare said his agency hasn’t received any credible reports of grizzly bears, grizzly tracks or photos of the great bears in the past several months.
Last summer was a different story, one that involved at least two confirmed grizzly bears in the region and perhaps more.
For much of the 2019 summer, a young male grizzly bear roamed the bitterroot mountains south of U.S. Highway 12 and the Lochsa River, sometimes within the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area. That bear was wearing a satellite collar that allows wildlife biologists to keep tabs on its movements.
The young bruin was taken from the northern continental divide population in north central Montana in 2018 and introduced into the Cabinet Mountains of western Montana as part of an effort to augment the population there. Grizzly bears are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
The bear, known as 927, made a foray into Idaho two years ago before returning to the Cabinets, where he denned. In 2019, the bear returned to Idaho and moved further south, eventually setting up shop near Lolo Pass. He stayed there for the summer but returned to the Cabinet Mountains in the fall and spent the winter there.
This spring, bear 927 charted a new course. Wayne Kasworm, a grizzly bear biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Libby, Mont., said 927 is now northeast of Eureka, Mont., not far from the U.S.-Canada border and back within the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
Young males are known to wander, but Kasworm said 927 is peculiarly nomadic.
“This is at least a little bit unusual, as far as the amounts of movements out of this particular bear, and at least to me what is a little more unusual is the fact that he went so far south and now he has gone so far north, and he is back in the same population he came from.”
The other known grizzly bear to have been in north central Idaho last year was also somewhat of a rolling stone. It was photographed in the White Bird Creek drainage. Hair samples identified it as a male grizzly that was radio collared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Selkirk Mountains near the Idaho-Canada border in 2017. The bear was a yearling at the time it was collared. The radio collar fell off the bear in 2018.
Teare said the whereabouts of that bear are unknown. Fish and Game officials assumed it might be the same bear that left tracks near Fish Creek this spring.
“He was a traveling bear, on the move for several years, and could have just wintered here and moved elsewhere,” he said. “We don’t have a collar on him.”
There were also trail camera photos of other grizzly bears last year. One was in the Newsome Creek drainage high above the South Fork of the Clearwater River. The other was also near Lolo Pass. But wildlife managers don’t know if those were yet more individual grizzly bears or perhaps just images of 927 and the White Bird Creek bear captured as they moved about the area.
Kasworm’s agency continues to monitor known populations of grizzly bears. This year his colleagues have trapped and collared five male grizzlies in the Selkirk Mountains.
“All of them were radio collared, and one has already lost its collar. The problem we face with adult bears is they have more neck than head, and it’s hard to keep a radio collar on a pear.”
Idaho Fish and Game also is monitoring grizzly bears. Boudreau said he and other biologists trapped two grizzlies near Island Park west of Yellowstone National Park this week.
RELATED STORIES FROM IDAHO STATESMAN
Grizzly bears to remain endangered species, court rules, ending Idaho hunt plans
JULY 08, 2020 2:32 PM
Wyoming man’s viral video shows young grizzly taking down a bison at Yellowstone
JUNE 29, 2020 10:05 AM
Biologist seriously injured as bear charges from 100 yards away, Montana officials say
JUNE 26, 2020 6:12 PM
Hunters kill protected grizzly bears while seeking black bears, Montana officials say
JUNE 03, 2020 2:27 PM
Grizzly tracks spotted near Grangeville
Bear may have been same one photographed in White Bird Creek drainage last year
- Idaho Fish and Game officials said fresh grizzly bear tracks were found at Fish Creek Meadows, about 7 miles south of Grangeville, on Saturday.
The agency is warning people in the area to recreate with caution and advising black bear hunters to carefully identify their targets before shooting. Grizzly bears are protected under the Endangered Species Act and can’t be killed by hunters.
Although the region contains habitat well-suited for grizzly bears, it has not been known to be occupied by the animals for several decades. But that could be changing. There were a handful of reports and photographs of grizzly bears in north central Idaho last year, two of which were confirmed to be individual bears.
The tracks at Fish Creek Meadows perhaps match up with a grizzly that was photographed by a trail camera in the White Bird Creek drainage in the spring of 2019. Fish and Game biologists collected a hair sample from the White Bird bear and sent it off for genetic testing. According to the news release issued Wednesday, test results revealed the 2019 hair sample matched the DNA of a male grizzly bear that was radio collared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service near the Idaho-Canada border in 2017. The bear was a yearling at the time it was collared. The radio collar fell off the bear in 2018.
According to the news release, another hair sample was collected near the tracks found last week and submitted for testing. It is expected to take many months to get results.
If it is the same bear from the 2019 hair samples, it would now be 4 years old and have traveled hundreds of miles in Idaho and Montana during its lifetime without any known conflict with humans.
“We probably won’t know for a while,” said Wayne Kasworm, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist at Libby, Mont. “The take-home message here is there is a grizzly bear there, regardless of its identification, and folks, particularly hunters, who are out there need to be aware of that.”
Kasworm said it is likely the bear that left the tracks denned relatively nearby and probably emerged from hibernation no more than a month ago. He also said the tracks were about the size that would be expected of a 4-year-old male grizzly.
Another grizzly, this one wearing a satellite tracking collar, spent much of last summer and early fall in the upper Lochsa River basin before denning in the Cabinet Mountains of Montana.
Trail cameras captured pictures of a grizzly near Lolo Pass last summer and one in Newsome Creek near Elk City. That means there could have been three or even four different grizzly bears in the Clearwater Region last year. But Kasworm said it’s possible the Newsome Creek bear was the same bear photographed near White Bird Creek and the bear pictured near Lolo Pass was the bear wearing a satellite collar.
“I would hesitate to say we had three different bears. I think we can very authoritatively say we had two different bears.”
The federal government once had a plan to reintroduce grizzly bears into remote areas of what is known as the Bitterroot Ecosystem in north central Idaho and western Montana. That plan fell to political pressure, and wildlife officials opted to instead manage the area for natural recolonization by the bears.
Before last summer, the last known grizzly bear in north central Idaho was in 2007. That bear was shot by a hunter, who mistook it for a black bear, in the upper reaches of Kelly Creek. Some environmental groups are suing the U.S. Forest Service for allowing bear baiting on federal forests in Idaho and Wyoming. The groups, which include Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians and Wilderness Watch, say the practice puts grizzlies at risk and should be banned.
The Forest Service once regulated bear baiting on land it manages, but stopped in 1992 and instead left it up to state wildlife agencies to decide when and where the practice should be allowed. The groups argue that several grizzly bears have been killed at baiting sites when hunters have mistaken them for black bears.
Information on telling the difference between black bears and grizzly bears is available atbit.ly/3cLi4YF. Fish and Game officials would like anyone who sees a grizzly bear to report it by calling the Clearwater Regional Office at (208) 799-5010 or by completing an online form at bit.ly/3bxYLBJ.
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
Grizzly bears entering Bitterroot protected under Endangered Species Act
January 29, 2020 by Michael Howell
Grizzly bears entering the Bitterroot are protected under Endangered Species Act
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has notified supervisors of the Bitterroot, Nez-Perce-Clearwater, Lolo and Salmon-Challis National Forests informing them that grizzly bears present in the Bitterroot Grizzly Bear Experimental Population Area (BGBEPA) are protected under the Endangered Species Act. It also means that the forests would have to consult with the agency concerning potential impacts on the grizzlies where federal agency actions are proposed in an area that may impact the bears.
The question arose last year when the rules were changed concerning “experimental populations.” Since there was no established population in the Bitterroot recovery zone, some wondered whether the rules would affect or weaken protections for grizzlies if they ever established themselves in the Bitterroot. The grizzlies that were intended to be introduced into that area in the 2000s were designated an experimental population allowing public land managers more flexibility in handling the bears, but that project never happened.
What has changed now is the recognition that grizzlies are migrating into the area. In the January 21, 2020 letter to the Forests, USFWS officials refer to the collared bear that travelled into the Bitterroot from the Cabinet-Yaak recovery zone last summer.
“This grizzly bear was not released or reintroduced into the BGBEPA by the Service, and Service has not released or reintroduced any grizzly bears into the BGBEPA. Therefore, grizzly bears that are present in the BGBEPA are not covered by the 10(j) rule and are considered threatened under the ESA.”
The USFWS states that it is updating its species occurrence map with locations of where grizzly bears may be present within and near the BGBEPA and upon completion will provide that map to the Forest Service to use in determining where consultation over proposed projects is required.
David Smith in the USFS Regional office in Missoula said that the letter was simply clarifying that grizzly bears in the area are protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. He said that it would not change anything essentially in the way the Forest Service operates.
“We already consult with USFWS on all our projects,” said Smith. He said in the case of grizzly bears, certain things like road construction and other activities could impact the bears’ behavior. He said his agency consults with USFWS on their projects about the potential impacts and if it is determined that the project activities had that potential they determine what actions could be taken to mitigate that impact.
Idaho grizzly wandering south into territory where bears were last seen in 1932
By Eric Barker The Lewiston Tribune July 17, 2019 09:41 AM, Updated July 17, 2019 09:41 AM
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article232776332.html#storylink=cpy
North central Idaho’s wandering grizzly bear is continuing his southward journey.
The 3-year-old male wearing a satellite tracking collar has moved south of U.S. Highway 12 and is now in the upper end of Storm Creek just inside the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area, according to Wayne Kasworm of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The bear’s last reported location before moving south was in the Cayuse Creek drainage. Before that, he spent time in the Kelly Creek area.
The wandering bear was released into the Cabinet Mountains of Montana last year and quickly crossed the Clark Fork River into Idaho. He was later captured by wildlife biologists after visiting a black bear baiting site in the early fall of 2018 and moved back to Montana.
But upon release, the bear again headed south into Idaho. He eventually returned to Montana and the Cabinet Mountains to den for the winter. This spring, when he emerged from hibernation, the bear started moving south.
He eventually crossed into the Clearwater Region by climbing from the St. Joe River drainage through the Mallard Larkin Pioneer Area and visited a bear baiting station in the Bungalow area of the North Fork of the Clearwater River basin. His image was captured by a trail camera at the bait site there.
Idaho Fish and Game officials then warned black bear hunters in the area to use extra caution when identifying potential targets. Grizzly bears are protected by the Endangered Species Act and can’t be taken by hunters. Idaho’s black bear hunting season has since closed.
In early June, before the bear was widely known to be in north central Idaho, three conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, arguing bear baiting should not be allowed in portions of Idaho and Wyoming where grizzly bears are or maybe present.
[Idahoans need to get ready for grizzly migration to central Idaho wilderness]
The Selway Bitterroot Wilderness area is within the Bitterroot grizzly bear recovery area. The great bears have been absent from the area for many decades but were once abundant. According to a post on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website, members of the Lewis and Clark expedition encountered several grizzly bears during their traverses of the Bitterroots and killed seven of the bears while there. Early 1900s trappers and hunters used to kill 25 to 40 grizzly bears per year in the Bitterroot Mountains.
Until recent times, the last observed grizzly in the Bitterroots was documented in 1932, but grizzly tracks were observed in 1946. A grizzly was shot and killed at a black bear bait site by a hunter in the upper reaches of Kelly Creek in 2007.
According to a report on the suitability of grizzly bear habitat in the Bitterroots, biologists believe the remote mountains and its many wild berries, forbs and grasses, along with deer and elk herds, could support as many as 300 of the bears. Grizzlies in the area once fed on salmon and whitebark pine nuts, but the abundance of the fish and trees have since declined. Even so, the area is considered the best spot in the lower 48 states for grizzly bear recovery not only for the available food sources, but also because of its large expanse, remoteness and three federally protected wilderness areas there.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a federal plan endorsed by a wide range of stakeholders to release grizzlies in the Bitterroots of north central Idaho and western Montana. That plan was eventually scuttled by the George W. Bush administration because of political pressure. But the area remains identified as suitable habitat and a place where the bears are likely to one day re-colonize if their numbers continue to grow. Wildlife officials are unaware of any other grizzlies there.
Clay Hickey, regional wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said as the grizzly has moved south, he has tended to avoid areas where people are likely to be and instead chose to travel high on ridges
“Most of the places he has appeared to have gone have been out of the way,” he said. “It’s all tough country. If you were trying to get from point A to B, it’s not how you would choose to go.”
Nonetheless, Hickey said the grizzly’s presence as well as the abundant population of black bears in north central Idaho is a good reminder for people to keep clean camps and practice “bear aware” tactics when recreating. The agency recommends people never store food or scented products like tooth paste or sunscreen in tents. Instead, people are advised to store food in their vehicles when car camping. When horse riding or backpacking, the agency recommends people hang their food at least 10 feet off the ground and 5 feet from tree trunks and at least 100 yards from campsites. Dishes and cooking utensils should be cleaned promptly after use and away from campsites.
“Most of these places he has been are some of the more dense black bear habit in our region and people should always be bear smart and clean campsites and those kinds of things,” Hickey said. “We know we have one collared grizzly bear out there, but we have hundreds of black bears in all of those areas.”
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article232776332.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article232776332.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article232776332.html#storylink=cpy