The Grizzly bear is an American wildlife icon, and a key element of our distinctive Western wildlife heritage. Lewis and Clark wrote about encountering grizzly bears once they explored the West greater than 200 years in the past.
This yr, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is making progress on restoring grizzly bears to 2 ecosystems within the West, the place grizzlies have lengthy been absent: the North Cascades in north-central Washington, and the Bitterroots alongside the Montana-Idaho border. ESC has subject employees engaged on the bottom in each areas.
Within the Washington, the Nationwide Park Service is main the planning course of to reintroduce grizzly bears into the North Cascades Nationwide Park. As a result of this ecosystem is way eliminated—and subsequently remoted—from its counterparts additional east in Idaho and Montana, the seize and translocation of a handful of grizzly bears over an extended time period is critical to reestablish a wholesome, self-sustaining inhabitants right here. ESC has been engaged within the public course of across the North Cascades. We’re supportive of efforts to reintroduce grizzly bears into this space, in addition to efforts to teach residents and guests on how one can reside and recreate in grizzly bear habitat in ways in which decrease grizzly bear interactions with folks and livestock.
Over within the Bitterroot Ecosystem, the FWS was just lately ordered by a court docket to restart the long-stalled-out means of contemplating how one can restore grizzly bears to the mountains of western Montana and north-central Idaho. Twenty years in the past, the FWS developed and launched a plan to reintroduce grizzlies right here, nevertheless it was scrapped on account of political meddling by the Bush Administration. In contrast to within the North Cascades, nevertheless, throughout the previous 20 years a handful of grizzly bears have migrated naturally into the Bitterroots. Sadly, they haven’t remained, and we don’t know for certain if there are any grizzly bears presently residing there, particularly feminine bears essential to develop a inhabitants. Now the FWS should rethink whether or not or to not reintroduce grizzlies to the Bitterroots, or to permit a inhabitants to reestablish naturally. ESC is fastidiously contemplating the perfect strategy to recovering grizzly bears within the Bitterroots. We aren’t certain that an aggressive reintroduction program in such a politically-charged area will likely be one of the best ways ahead for bears. Whatever the path chosen by the FWS, the conservation of key wildlife corridors and the cautious administration of bear attractants (rubbish, livestock, pet meals, and many others) across the edges of the restoration space will likely be important to make sure profitable restoration.
Lastly, the FWS is presently contemplating petitions from the states of Montana and Wyoming to take away Endangered Species Act protections for the rising bear populations round Yellowstone and the Northern Continental Divide. Lately-passed laws and different coverage adjustments in Montana for wolves, grizzly bears and enormous carnivores typically give us nice pause when contemplating the flexibility or want of Montana to proceed to responsibly preserve grizzly bears with out robust federal oversight. Moreover, previous makes an attempt to delist grizzly bears have demonstrated an absence of willingness by the FWS to place robust sideboards into guidelines that might maintain the states’ accountable for grizzly bear conservation post-delisting. Subsequently, ESC opposes delisting of grizzly bear populations in these restoration areas right now. As one of many slowest-reproducing mammals on the planet, grizzly bear populations will at all times be delicate to mortality, and thus would require steady, robust conservation measures. As such, any delisting rule or post-delisting regulatory framework MUST embody strong and enforceable requirements to make sure that grizzly bears thrive into the long run. ESC will proceed to push for such measures, if any when the USFWS proposes delisting, whereas advocating for elevated panorama connectivity, in addition to funding for wildlife crossing tasks, attractant administration, and different coexistence measures.
