Grizzly Bears belong in the Bitterroot Mountains, but not as a nonessential experimental population!
Selway River
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Idaho
Return To: The American Grizzly Bear
Grizzlies bears belong in the Bitterroot Mountains, but they should not be reintroduced as a "nonessential experimental" population. That was a key element of the preferred alternative seleced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Draft EIS and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Whether grizzlies are relocated from other areas or return to the Bitterroots on their own terms, they deserve full protection under the Endangered Species Act until a healthy population has been reestablished. There are occassional reports of grizzly bear sightings in the Bitterroots. However, the official position (2001) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator) is that there are no grizzly bears, or no population of grizzly bears, in the Bitterroot Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone.
The proposal to reintroduce grizzly bears to the Bitterroot Ecosystem as a nonessential experimental population and allow a Citizen Management Committee to manage the bears was a bad one (see below for details). In a June 20, 2001 press release, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to concentrate recovery efforts and resources on existing grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states and to withdraw a plan to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Bitterroot ecosystem of Idaho and Montana.
Does this mean Fish and Wildlife will work toward reclassifying the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak grizzly populations to the endangered status they deserve? Will critical habitat be designated to give those beleaguered bears at least a chance to survive? Or, will the efforts be focused on removing protections now afforded under the Endangered Species Act to the Yellowstone grizzly bear population, in other words continuing to work toward "delisting" the Yellowstone grizzly?
Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton proposed rescinding the plan to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Bitterroot ecosystem of central Idaho and western Montana. She stopped a bad plan from being implemented but for the wrong reasons. Grizzlies belong in the Bitterroots, but not as non essential experimental status. They deserve all the protections of the Endangered Species Act. They also deserve to be managed by people who are interested in their recovery to a healthy state, not by political appointees recommended by a governor who opposes reintroduction in the first place.
Norton defended her decision by stressing she wants to focus on efforts to bolster existing grizzly bear populations, rather than start new ones.
Norton says, "The grizzlies deserve the best opportunities for their populations to thrive and prosper, and I am fully committed to the recovery of grizzly bears in the Lower 48." If that is true, she should move to reclassify the Selkirk, Cabinet-Yaak, and North Cascades grizzly bear populations as endangered. She should also stop the efforts to remove Endangered Species Act protection from the Yellowstone grizzly bear population.
A halt to plans for reintroduction of grizzlies in the Bitterroots was sought by Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne, who sued the government to halt the reintroduction of what he called "massive, flesh-eating carnivores."
In November 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a Record of Decision for a Final Environmental Impact Statement to reintroduce bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem.
Fish and Wildlife is now reevaluating this Record of Decision and is proposing a "No Action" alternative. The public will have 60-days to comment on the proposal before a final decision is reached. If the "No Action" alternative is selected, grizzly bears would not be reintroduced into the Bitterroot ecosystem.
A Notice of Intent has been published in the Federal Register. It is in PDF format, which means you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the document. If you do not have it, it can be downloaded for free.
The Proposed Rule to select the No Action Alternative as the Preferred Alternative is also available in PDF format.
The 60-day public comment period ended on August 21, 2001.
Trapper Peak
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Montana
In a March 9, 2000 Notice in the Federal Register the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Fish and Wildlife) announced the availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Bitterroot Ecosystem.
The public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Bitterroot Ecosystem ended December 1, 1997. Release of the FEIS had been pushed back several times.
Alternative 1, also known as the ROOTS Plan (Resource Organization on Timber Supply), remains the preferred alternative in the FEIS and proposes relocation of 25 grizzlies to the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Grizzlies could be taken form the Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems, where they are now listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Grizzly bears could also be taken from Canada, if an agreement between the two countries could be reached. Under the preferred alternative, relocated grizzlies would be designated as a nonessential experimental population. A Citizen Management Committee would be set up to manage the grizzlies, mostly political appointees based on the recommendations of the governors of Montana and Idaho.
Although minor changes were made in the preferred alternative, Alternative 4 (The Conservation Biology Alternative) remains the best option for grizzly bear recovery in the Bitterroots.
Alternative 4, Conservation Biology Alternative (CBA), was submitted by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Salmon-Selway Grizzly Coalition. The CBA provides: a larger recovery area than Alternative 1, protection of existing roadless habitat by prohibiting road building, restoration of depleted habitat by ripping out 3,500 miles of logging roads (creates 1,500 high-paying jobs for local people), full protection of the grizzlies as a threatened species under the ESA, management by qualified scientists, a link to grizzlies in the Cabinet Mountains, and potential linkage corridors to grizzly bear populations in the Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems. It was encouraging to see support for the CBA grow as the process unfolded.
Successful recovery requires: proper habitat, habitat protection, truly concerned citizens and managers, and a lot of luck (none of which are part of the ROOTS Plan). Alternative 1 supports logging, mining, and grazing interests--not grizzly bear recovery in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Alternative 4 is a common-sense, habitat-based approach to grizzly bear recovery in the Bitterroot Ecosystem.
The public comment period on the final environmental impact statement has ended. The document also is still available for viewing and downloading at <http://www.r6.fws.gov/endspp/grizzly/>. After reviewing the comments, Fish and Wildlife will issue a final decision on the plan--supposedly later this year. Implementing a plan to return grizzlies to the Bitterroots will face attempts to block funding and lawsuits from various interests, both for and against grizzlies in the Bitterroots.
Little Rock Creek Lake
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Montana
The Bitterroot Ecosystem Subcommittee Workplan for 2000-2005 is available on the IGBC web site.
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