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10/06/06
Togwotee gets grizzly from Cody farm area "Wyoming Game and Fish removed another grizzly bear from a farm on the South Fork of the Shoshone River west of Cody Monday, the eighth trapped for eating grain at the site in the last two weeks. Officials moved the latest bear, an eight-year-old male weighing 361-pounds, to Lone Lake about three miles northwest of Togwotee Pass. This is roughly the eighth bear moved to the Togwotee Pass area this year, but only the first moved to the location from the farm near Cody. In addition to this latest bear, Game and Fish has removed a sow and two cubs; two two-year-old litter mates; one four-year-old female; and one three-year-old male. Grizzlies are protected by federal law as a threatened species." 10/04/06 Bear park owners sentenced for illegal sale of bear parts abroad "South Dakota-Bear Country USA and its owners have been sentenced for illegally selling bear parts abroad, where they command premium prices and are used in alternative medicine. The drive-through wildlife park near Rapid City was fined $20,000, (€15,767.9) and its owners, Kevin Casey and Brendan Casey, were fined $4,000 (€3,154) each by a federal judge for the misdemeanors, that also included buying two grizzly bears from Minnesota." 9/29/06 "The debate over whether grizzly bears roam in Colorado's backcountry has been reignited by the reported sighting of a female bear and two cubs. Hunters said they spotted the bears in a San Isabel National Forest clearing about 19 miles east of Aspen, the Denver Post reports. The sighting prompted Colorado wildlife officials to conduct a helicopter search Thursday of the remove forest area near Independence Pass. Earlier, wildlife officials had conducted a ground search of the site where the hunters saw the bears but could find no physical evidence, such as tracks. The last confirmed grizzly sighting in Colorado was in 1979 when a bow hunter was attacked by a female bear south of Pagosa Springs. Until then, state wildlife officials had thought the grizzly bear was extinct in Colorado." 9/27/06 "Howcum so many guys bitten by grizzly bears say it didn't hurt? The following educational column is a result of non-grant research." 9/26/06 Swan Valley adds protected land "The effort to preserve fisheries and wildlife habitat in the Swan Valley took another big step Monday, when several groups announced 1,761 acres of Plum Creek Timber Co. land had been protected." 9/24/06 The Global Media and the Death of Bears "In my view, Discovery/Animal Planet people are among the most damaging thing on earth, to the bears and to countless other species. People of the Crocodile Hunter ilk are worse than the most blood-thirsty slob hunters, the most blatant real estate exploiters. And their power is keyed directly to the lack of professionalism, talent, public codes and laws, public ownership, that we feature in the structure of our libraries. And they make lots of money under the guise of caring for wildlife." Dr. Charles Jonkel 9/24/06 "I'm not alone in worrying about bears. 'I think a lot of people kind of get a little paranoid. Around here ... we call it bearanoid,' says Jackie Skaggs, spokeswoman for the National Park Service in Grand Teton National Park. 'We don't want people to be fearful and have to curtail their activities but to just be smart.' If you and a bear want the same piece of trail, the bear wins. It's up to you, says Skaggs, to detour around, giving it wide berth, or failing that, 'turn around and retrace your steps and give the bear the trail.'" 9/23/06 Satellite tracks roaming grizzly "The grizzly bear captured this week on the shores of Whitefish Lake was the same bear caught just weeks ago near Bitterroot Lake west of Kalispell. The unusual location for the first capture — between the state’s two major grizzly bear recovery areas — had prompted a decision to fit the young bear with a global positioning satellite collar. Tim Manley, the state’s regional grizzly management specialist, was uncertain if the bear had come from the Northern Continental Divide or the Cabinet-Yaak recovery areas." 9/20/06 "Grand Teton officials Tuesday released a long-awaited transportation plan that proposes 42 miles of paved paths from the park’s south boundary to Colter Bay Village." 9/18/06 Montana groups want testing for mine pollution "Fearing that an open-pit coal mine proposed for southeast British Columbia could lead to downstream pollution, three civic organizations in Montana have appealed to federal and state officials to begin water quality monitoring in the Flathead River Valley." 9/5/06 "Grizzly bear habitat around a coal mine adjacent to Jasper National Park is not being protected, says the Sierra Club. The environmental group is urging the federal and provincial governments to revisit approvals given to the Cheviot Mine, saying that commitments made to protect grizzly bears have not happened. The panel that reviewed the project, made up of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, strongly recommended that the headwaters of the Cardinal River should be protected to buffer the impact on grizzlies." 9/5/06 More pine cones may bring in bears "The large crop of whitebark pine cones in some areas of Wyoming could attract grizzly bears and the state game department is warning hunters and other outdoor recreationists to be alert. The seeds of the whitebark pine are high in fat and can be an important food source for bears as they prepare for hibernation, the game department says. Bears get the seeds by raiding caches, called middens, made by red squirrels. The department says people heading into the woods should be aware that bears may be searching for middens in mid- to high-elevation conifer stands that hold whitebark pine. Mark Haroldson, wildlife biologist on the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, said last year was considered a good year for cone production with a mean of 17 cones per tree. This year, he said the mean number of cones per tree was more than 34 in some areas of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem." 9/5/06 "When the helicopter lands in the western Alberta bush, student Johan Lindsjo and the rest of the research team move quickly to anesthetize the bear caught in their baited trap. Typically, the team anesthetizes a bear long enough to take blood, skin and hair samples and to attach ear and collar transmitters, then releases the bear into the wild. The team is measuring various grizzly bear health indicators such as growth, immunity, reproduction and longevity -- information that will help predict the effects of landscape change and human activity on the health of grizzly bears living throughout western Alberta." 9/4/06 Judge rejects all bear-case claims "A federal judge has rejected claims that management plans for the Kootenai and Idaho Panhandle national forests fall short in protecting grizzly bears from the effects of motorized access to the forests. It was clear from the outset that the plans were not intended to provide comprehensive protection for grizzlies, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula said last week. He rejected all eight major claims in a lawsuit filed by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Lands Council. The groups challenged forest-plan amendments, adopted in 2004, as inadequate for protection of bears in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk bear recovery areas. The Kootenai forest includes the Cabinet-Yaak area and the Idaho Panhandle forest the Selkirk area. Molly’s ruling will be appealed, said Michael Garrity, Alliance for the Wild Rockies executive director." 9/3/06 If you’d gone down to the woods about 4,000 years ago ... "Bears lived alongside humans in Ireland for thousands of years, according to new research using radiocarbon dating. It had been thought that bears disappeared from the island in about 5,000BC, but a forensic study of bones found in Leitrim has established that they survived until at least 2,000BC, millenniums after people arrived and long after the introduction of farming. When man first arrived in Ireland, in about 8,000BC, the island was covered with dense elm, hazel and pine forests that were home to bears, lynx and wolves. The brown bears were the same species as the aggressive grizzly of North America, which can weigh more than 700kg (1,500lb) and feeds on roots, berries and fish, but also deer and livestock. The bones of what may have been the last Irish bears were found in 1997 in the Glenade valley in Leitrim, in a cave on an almost-vertical cliff that was probably a wintering den. The bones are now on display at Marble Arch caves. " 9/3/06 Debate rages over Boo in captivity "Orphaned grizzlie cub Boo is finding captivity a challenge." 9/3/06 "In 1999, a hunter pushing his way through thick brush had a close encounter with a grizzly bear in the backcountry of Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest. As the bear charged, the man pulled out a can of bear spray and doused the beast. The grizzly didn't miss a step. The man had just enough time to bounce the empty can off its head before the bear was on him. A fellow hunter shot and killed the grizzly as it mauled the man. A U.S. Forest Service investigator later discovered something odd on the back of the can of pepper spray. In small letters, it read: 'After spraying the attacker, call 9-1-1 immediately.' The product was intended to stop a human being, not a 400-pound grizzly bear." 9/1/06 Bear moved to remote area of Yellowstone after 20 hazings fail "A 2-year-old grizzly bear was relocated to a remote part of Yellowstone National Park after repeated attempts to haze it away from inhabited areas failed." 9/1/06 Berries bring bears to sides of roads, paths "With chokecherries and hawthorne berries lining Moose-Wilson Road from Wilson into Grand Teton National Park, bears and other wildlife are coming out to feast." 8/31/06 $10K gets grizzly lovers a week at Yukon retreat "Got a thing for grizzlies? You can soon get your fix of the bears by spending $10,000 for a week's stay at an exclusive lodge in northern Yukon. The Vuntut Gwich'in First Nation has partnered with the Yukon government and a private contractor to operate the new grizzly bear-viewing lodge in the Ni'innlii Njik Ecological Reserve, near Old Crow. Phil Timpany, a longtime guide and bear researcher, will operate the small lodge at the Fishing Branch River, in conjunction with the Vuntut Gwich'in's economic development corporation." 8/31/06 Bear mauls runner on Centennial Trail in refuge "A runner near Soldotna was mauled by a grizzly sow protecting her cubs. The man's wounds were not life-threatening, authorities said. The 33-year-old man, a fire crew employee for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and a companion were running Tuesday morning on Centennial Trail near the headquarters of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge when they spooked the bears. The man suffered cuts to his shoulders, back and arm, refuge manager Robin West said." 8/30/06 Unusual grizzly sightings in polar-bear country Barrow, AK "Shotgun-toting guards who scan the Arctic Ocean for white polar bears spent last week looking for a brown mass of fur on the reddening tundra surrounding this Inupiat village. The grizzly, a threat to anglers and backcountry hikers across much of Alaska, isn't a problem here. Usually. They're rarely spotted this far north. But two brown-bear sightings recently put some residents on edge and prompted managers at a research area east of the village to evacuate scientists doing fieldwork on the tundra." 8/29/06 Trail closures will help fatten up grizzlies "Mamma Bear may thank you for staying out of the closed area south and west of the Banff townsite this weekend -- even if she doesn’t have any cubs just yet. That’s because grizzly sows fattening up on berries around the Healy Creek, Brewster Creek and Sundance Trails now closed to hikers and bikers have a better chance of raising cubs and/or giving birth to healthy cubs if they can seriously fatten up on the abundant berry crop in Banff National Park. Because of that and potential human/wildlife conflict, said warden Glen Peers, some trail closures are expected to stick around for the last big summer weekend." 8/29/06 Environmental impact statement urges three lanes on stretch of Highway 93 "At more than 500 pages, the draft supplemental environmental impact statement for an 11-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 93 through Ninepipe does not make for light reading on a summer's eve. Even if you can find a copy. The public document is available for review on the Internet at www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/docs/eis_ea/eis_ninepipe.pdf. Because it is password protected, it cannot be downloaded. Hard copies are available at some regional libraries, but only for on-premises reading. Still, a few folks on the Flathead Reservation are already reading the report with critical eyes, since it recommends a one-mile southbound passing lane through the environmentally sensitive Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge south of Ronan. Everything from painted turtles to endangered grizzly bears cross that stretch of highway - and countless turtles, and an occasional grizzly bear, are hit each year by passing vehicles. So it is of critical importance to the highway engineers who are charged with making this highway a 'context sensitive' design." 8/25/06 Group files lawsuit to thwart mine project "Environmental groups opposing the proposed Tulsequah Chief mine in northern British Columbia have initiated a legal challenge against the federal government, saying the project could wipe out a protected caribou herd." "'Canadian Wildlife Service, Yukon government and independent scientists all agree that the impacts from this project would be devastating on the caribou,' Mr. MacKinnon said. 'Moose and grizzly bear populations will also suffer. By approving this project, our federal government has failed miserably to protect the Taku's wildlife populations and environment,' he said." 8/23/06 "Eleven public hearings will be held in September across western Montana to give people an opportunity to comment on a draft grizzly bear management plan. Locally, the hearings include one in Lincoln on Sept. 13 and another in Helena the following day. The state’s draft management plan for managing grizzly bears in 17 western Montana counties includes Lewis and Clark, Jefferson and Broadwater counties. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks crafted the plan to address grizzly bear populations and potential populations in the Northern Continental Divide, the Cabinet-Yaak and the Bitterroot ecosystems, as well as other nearby areas. It does not include the greater Yellowstone area, which was covered by a previous plan." 8/23/06 Collared grizzly returns to Quarry Canmore, AB "Fish and Wildlife officers are not surprised that a sub-adult grizzly bear that they trapped behind Quarry Lake and relocated to Wind Valley on Aug. 14 is back in the area and feeding on berries, says a wildlife biologist with Sustainable Resource Development." 8/23/06 "Boo, the four-year-old male grizzly who escaped twice this year from a refuge near the B.C.-Alberta border, has been neutered." 8/22/06 Grizzlies love Alaska's Bird Creek "Just 25 minutes by car from downtown Anchorage, Bird Creek is one of Alaska's most popular salmon-fishing destinations. Nestled at the base of the Chugach Mountains and lined by spruce and fir trees, the creek is so well-liked that fishermen coined the phrase 'combat fishing' to describe the dozens of anglers who stand cheek by jowl in the glacial runoff letting loose their hooks and lines. For years, people who fished here were unmolested by local wildlife, which is not the case in many other parts of Alaska. Bears stayed away, possibly spooked by the number of people who visited the area. Animals also seemed to be put off by all the cars on the adjacent Seward Highway, which connects Anchorage to Seward. That changed this summer, making Bird Creek a flashpoint in a bear resurgence across the U.S. In the past few weeks, grizzlies and black bears have started sneaking behind anglers, making off with Hefty bags and fishing lines filled with salmon. In one recent incident, two bears sauntered down, grabbed a tourist's backpack and calmly returned to the woods. On another occasion, a grizzly wandered around nonchalantly, scaring an angler into dropping his catch just a few feet from the parking lot." 8/19/06 Second grizzly moved to Cabinets "Another female grizzly bear was transplanted to the Cabinet Mountains on Thursday, with hopes of augmenting that area’s imperiled bear population." 8/16/06 Terrace, B.C. -Seven bears shot over four-day period "Seven bears had to be shot after venturing too close to humans in their search for food recently." 8/16/06 Grizzly Bear No. 141 is killed 8/16/06 "A grizzly bear that had recently lost its radio collar was hit and killed by a car last week in Grand Teton National Park." 8/15/06 Berry-hungry bears seek urban fare in the Northwest "Hungry bears in the Yukon and northern British Columbia are getting bolder in their search for food, breaking into rural homes and even approaching downtown Whitehorse. Conservation officers say there are nearly double the average numbers of bear sightings around Whitehorse, the territorial capital, and are warning people to be bear aware." 8/15/06 "Several studies are underway in the Tatlayoko Valley in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. One is examining the migration of grizzly bears, one is measuring the water supply in the ecosystem, and another is monitoring birds using the ecosystem of the Tatlayoko Ranch. Bear biologist Cedar Mueller grew up in Tatlayoko Valley. She is in a midst of a study to determine the migration patterns of the grizzlies moving from the coast through Tatlayoko Valley to the Chilko River. She began the study last spring in Tatlayoko, baiting several sites with a potent mixture of rotted fish and blood to lure the bears into an enclosure of a single strand of barbed wire designed to snag samples of the animals' hair." 8/15/06 Protecting wildlife habitat in the Inland Rainforest of B.C. "Dr. Lance Craighead a wildlife biologist from the Craighead Environmental Research Institute presented the Conservation Area Design (CAD) of the Inland Rainforest of B.C. - a blueprint for future conservation that shows the highest value core habitats and travel corridors. The report focuses on protecting habitat for six species of wildlife: grizzly bear, wolverine, lynx, cougar, gray wolf, and mountain caribou. " 8/14/06 State officials kill grizzly captured near West Yellowstone "State wildlife officials on Monday killed a 20-year-old grizzly bear that was captured over the weekend in the West Yellowstone area. The male bear routinely looked for food in residential areas, was habituated to people and caused property damage by breaking into numerous garages and a shed, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said in a news release." 8/14/06 Cadomin bruins bear today and gone tomorrow "A pair of grizzly bears recently learned that Cadomin isn’t a good place to be found loitering or causing trouble. Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers recently captured a grizzly sow and her cub using a culvert trap. 'They were becoming quite a concern,' said Chris Watson, a fish and wildlife officer, who was involved in capturing the bruin duo. 'They were clearly habituated to people.' Earlier this year three bears were discovered eating dog food in a fenced dog compound in a backyard in Cadomin. They were chased off by fish and wildlife officers who used bear bangers to drive the animals away. Watson said that more recently a bear had reportedly swatted at a dog. The wildlife officer added that upper management within fish and wildlife made a decision to relocate the bears." 8/13/06 Huckleberry crop looks good this year "A state grizzly bear management specialist says a lack of bears roaming through towns looking for food means it's a good season for huckleberries in Northwest Montana." 8/10/06 Aversive Conditioning of Backcountry Grizzly to Begin Friday " Glacier National Park officials report that the aversive conditioning of the female grizzly in the Oldman and Morning Star area will occur August 11-21. The conditioning was postponed one week due to the Red Eagle Fire. Officials also note that area trails will be closed during this two-week period. The trail closures are in addition to previously announced closures of Oldman and Morning Star Campgrounds. The closed trail portions are: the Pitamakan Pass Trail from the Dry Fork junction to the junction with Cut Bank Pass; and the Cut Bank Valley Trail from the Atlantic Creek junction to Pitamakan Pass. Dawson Pass to Pitamakan Overlook and the Cut Bank Pass will remain available to hikers. Trail closures throughout the program will ensure that the aversive conditioning is conducted in a controlled environment, without interrupting or altering the management actions due to hiker activity. It will also allow the bear’s response to be carefully monitored. This aversive conditioning will be conducted by park rangers and staff from the Wind River Bear Institute (WRBI). The two-week treatment program is being paid for by a grant from The Glacier Fund. Aversive conditioning is the application of negative reinforcement aimed at behavior modification. Officials hope that through a continued aversive conditioning effort, this individual bear will be able to remain in the ecosystem. Contact Information Matt Graves | 406-888-7942" 8/4/06 Canadian energy firm sells leases on RM Front "A second energy company has agreed to sell its federal mineral leases along the Rocky Mountain Front. The Calgary-based Startech energy company will sell its gas and oil leases, which cover 23,310 acres in the Blackleaf area, for an undisclosed amount as part of a privately funded buyout. The plan calls for retiring the federal mineral rights leases on 8,460 acres; the rest will be returned to the state or to private mineral rights owners. " 8/3/06 Settlement reached in grizzly country logging suit "The federal government has agreed to evaluate the effect of helicopter logging on grizzly bears to settle a conservation group's lawsuit over a timber sale in the Selkirk Mountains, spokesmen said Thursday. If the proposed settlement is approved by U.S. District Judge Edward Shea, the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agree to avoid helicopter logging in a large portion of the Boundary Timber sale area, considered key habitat for the endangered grizzly, pending completion of that review." 7/29/06 Alberta scientists use GPS to track grizzlies "Researchers are using collars equipped with radios and Global Positioning System devices to study bear populations in Alberta and British Columbia." 7/28/06 "Kotzebue's rescued brown bear cub has found temporary refuge at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage. The orphaned female grizzly cub was rescued near Kotzebue by an Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist and an Alaska State Trooper in mid-June. Sadie, who gets her name from Sadie Creek near the Kotzebue landfill where she was rescued, will be at the Portage center until she's taken to her permanent home at the Minnesota Zoo at the end of next year, according to Diana Weinhardt, director of the center's conservation and wildlife programs." 7/27/06 Bear-human fishing spot could be disaster for both "Bird Creek has gone to the bears. They are roaming among fishermen, they are stealing fish, and they are drawing a crowd. Alaska state troopers have visited the wildly popular fishing mecca almost every night for the past two weeks, responding to complaints and fears about hungry and unafraid grizzlies, said Greg Wilkinson, a trooper spokesman. The bears have been spotted from the Seward Highway bridge upstream to where the creek angles out of sight." 7/27/06 Bear relocated back to Yellowstone area "Wyoming Game and Fish captured and relocated a female grizzly bear to the Caribou-Targhee National Forest last Friday after she killed livestock west of Clark, Wyoming." 7/27/06 Grizzlies stressed out by oil and gas projects "Grizzly bears across Alberta and southeastern British Columbia could be suffering from harmful levels of stress due to disruptions of habitat, says a team of University of Calgary researchers. A crew of six students has been comparing satellite images of grizzly terrain to conditions on the ground, creating the most detailed map of its kind in Alberta. So far, the findings reveal a rapid pace of land development that's closing in on grizzly turf." 7/27/06 How strong are grizzlies? Plenty strong "'They’re pretty impressive creatures with good strength, agility and problem-solving abilities,' Smith said. 'They’re patient with a problem. They wouldn’t shake the tree as hard as they could right off the bat. They’d shake it, see how that worked, shake it a second time and so on. They behaved logically, like they were problem solving.'" 7/23/06 Grizzlies on rivers put managers on edge "The Forest Service is stepping up regulation on the Kenai and Russian." 7/21/06 "The Wyoming Game and Fish Department in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Shoshone National Forest, trapped and relocated an adult male grizzly bear. The boar killed a domestic calf within a grazing allotment on the Wiggins Fork, north of Dubois on the Shoshone National Forest. The bear was trapped July 20, 2006, and relocated that day to the upper Sunlight Creek drainage, about one mile east of the historic Lee City mining area. The release site is located within currently occupied grizzly bear habitat and the Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone." 7/21/06 Roadside Bear Viewing in Yellowstone National Park Topic of Thursday Talk "Mark Haroldson of the Interagency Grizzly Bear study team will discuss 'Roadside Bear Viewing Opportunities in Yellowstone National Park, Characteristics, Trends and Influence of Whitebark Pine' at 6:30 p.m. at the AMK Ranch, north of Leeks Marina" 7/20/06 Workers watch grizzly kill juvenile female brown bear "About 20 workers at the Greens Creek mine witnessed a juvenile brown bear get attacked, killed and partially eaten by a slightly larger bear." 7/15/06 Gazing at grizzlies -- from the saddle "A horseback expedition into Banff's backcountry yields close encounters with bears, glorious mountain scenery and respect for nature's grand plan" 7/13/06 Trail reopens after bear attack "The U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday reopened a popular hiking trail, saying it's safe again after an apparent July 3 grizzly attack left an eastern Idaho man with bites on his hip and shoulder. The agency reopened the Targhee Creek Trail near Island Park, on the western border of Yellowstone National Park. Wildlife officials believe the bear was a grizzly, but haven't confirmed it." 7/13/06 State griz plan would move some bruins to Cabinet-Yaaks "Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has released a state grizzly bear management plan that would continue to take grizzlies from other regions, including the Glacier Park area and augment populations in the Cabinet and Yaak area near Libby and Troy." 7/11/06 "The most daring romance in British Columbia came to an end on Saturday when Boo the lusty grizzly bear dragged his bedraggled rump back home, tired, hungry and more than a little worse for wear." 6/14/06 Evidence of griz cubs in Cabinets "A grizzly bear that was transplanted to the Cabinet Mountains last fall appears to have emerged from her den last month with no cubs. But there is hope for future cubs, based on the recently revealed genetic history of another bear that was moved to the Cabinets in 1993." 6/8/06 Grizzly found dead in Yellowstone Park "A grizzly bear found dead along the shore of Yellowstone Lake nearly two weeks ago died of severe blunt trauma and other injuries, likely the result of being hit by a vehicle, park officials said Wednesday. Results from a recent necropsy show the roughly 200 pound female had severe trauma to the ribs, internal bruising and bleeding that led to asphyxiation, the park said in a news release. This was the first grizzly death reported in Yellowstone since September 2004, the park said. Based on the available evidence, a park bear biologist thinks the bear died after being hit by a vehicle and making her way to the lake shore for water, the park said. Rangers found no skid marks or other debris in the area near where the bear was discovered, and drowning initially was suspected as the cause of death, the park said. Park officials ask anyone with information on the bear's death to call the Park Tip Line, 307-344-2132. They also urge caution among drivers in the park and ask that motorists who accidentally hit an animal with their vehicles report that to a ranger." 6/8/06 Encounters with roaming bears keep Anchorage residents wary "It may seem like a bear invasion -- lots of the bruins prowling uncomfortably close to the places where we live, work and play. But it's perfectly normal for this time of year, said Rick Sinnott of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game." 6/8/06 Salcha, AK man kills grizzly in neighborhood "A young grizzly bear was shot and killed in Salcha Tuesday night after it raided a bag of dog food and approached a homeowner's dogs in the small community 40 miles southeast of Fairbanks. It was the second grizzly bear to be shot in defense of life and property in the Fairbanks area in the past 10 days. One of two young grizzly siblings that were reported roaming along the east end of Farmers Loop for a week was shot and killed on May 28 standing next to a horse corral. The bear shot in Salcha was a female and weighed between 150 and 200 pounds, said Young, who speculated it was 3 years old." 6/8/06 Grizzly forces camground closure "Conditions are dangerous right now for bear activity in and around the Bow Valley, with an abundance of dandelions and other succulent greens in the valley bottom luring bears, and aggressive grizzly boars looking for receptive females..." 6/8/06 Grizzly escapes refuge, on the run "A young grizzly bear that gained national attention when a hunter shot its mother in northern B.C. has escaped from the Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge near Golden. The bear, known as Boo, escaped on Monday after digging his way under a perimeter fence. Refuge staff have been tracking the bear by helicopter, and say he's made a new friend — a wild, female grizzly." Go Boo! 6/6/06 Motorized use proposal near Lincoln draws critics "The land includes grizzly bear habitat and summer and winter range for elk and moose." 6/3/06 Park removes snares after bear death "Glacier National Park has suspended all bear-capture operations while it reviews the death of a male grizzly that was caught in a snare in the park." 6/3/06 "Bear Air: Alberta grizzly flies to B.C." "A bear cub picked up by a man in northern Alberta who thought the animal was an orphan has become the first ursine passenger for WestJet Airlines." 6/3/06 Wyoming G&F moves 2 grizzlies, black bear "Two young grizzly bears will have some walking to do if they ever want to snack on dog food or tear into a motorcycle seat again." 6/2/06 Bear attracted by trash in Sterling, AK is removed "State biologists tranquilized and moved a grizzly bear that had torn through garbage receptacles on the Kenai Peninsula. The Department of Fish and Game had received several calls from Sterling reporting that the bear was rummaging through trash. It was darted near the Suzie's Cafe trash bin about 7 p.m. Thursday." 5/31/06 One of the Fairbanks grizzly pair shot, killed "One of the two young grizzly bear siblings that have roamed the Farmers Loop area for the past week was shot and killed at the edge of a horse corral Sunday night near the Fairbanks Golf & Country Club golf course. Officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game say it was a legitimate defense of life and property shooting. They are trying to trap or shoot the other bear, which is starting to get more brazen, said state wildlife biologist Don Young." 5/31/06 "'I really think the bear actually showed quite a bit of kindness in the way she mauled me,' Mungoven said." 5/27/06 Two grizzly cubs killed by train "Two grizzly cubs died Thursday after being struck by a train on the BNSF Railway Co. tracks east of the Continental Divide at Marias Pass." 5/25/06 Humans and bears: not so different after all "Charlie Russell set up home with grizzlies in the wild, and found himself the 'mother' to three orphaned cubs - all to prove that bears can coexist with humans" 5/24/06 Bears stop traffic, thrill residents in Fairbanks "The spectacle attracted a crowd, too. Dozens of motorists pulled over to watch the bears. Alaska State Troopers were called to the scene at around 7:30 p.m. because the situation was posing a potential traffic hazard." 5/23/06 Rare wild bear kills 7 sheep in Bavarian rampage "Authorities in Bavaria have ordered the killing or capture of the first wild bear to appear in their region since 1835 after it went on a rampage and killed seven sheep and some chickens." 5/22/06 "Goldilocks was nowhere to be found, but three grizzly bears recently made their way into Cadomin looking for food. On May 9, three bears were discovered eating dog food in a fenced dog compound in a backyard." 5/18/06 Lake Louise still waiting for appearance of No. 72 "So far this year, no young-of-year cubs have been spotted, but there are several grizzly sows that have yet to make an appearance, including No. 72 herself. She’s collared and known to be active in recent days, 'and who knows what she’ll bring when she does appear,' Morrison said." 5/17/06 "A Sayward man shot a grizzly bear on the weekend to protect his granddaughter." 5/16/06 Officials investigating grizzly death in Montana "State wildlife officials are investigating the death of a grizzly bear in the Trumbell Creek area." 5/12/06 New research hopes to shed light on grizzly population in Glacier area "There are two projects in progress. One uses DNA analysis of bear hairs not only to estimate how many bears are out there, but also to learn where they are. The other uses tracking technology to help determine the population trend." 5/9/06 DNA tests confirm hunter shot grizzly-polar bear hybrid "Scientists testing the DNA of a strange bear shot in the N.W.T. last month have confirmed it was a hybrid of polar bear and grizzly – perhaps the first ever seen in the wild." 5/9/06 Bear scare closes mountain trails "The presence of several grizzly bears in an area where a woman was killed by one last summer has forced officials to close some backcountry trails around the resort town of Canmore, Alta." 5/8/06 Moose call brings on grizzly attacks "When a hunter uses a moose caller, a couple of things could happen. One, he gets a moose. Two, he gets something that wants to eat a moose. Freedom of information documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun are littered with hair-raising tales of hunters who got more than they bargained for during their seasonal hunts" 5/8/06 Grizzly bear killed at Sterling, AK Bible camp "A grizzly bear that became too curious about nearby livestock was shot and killed last week at the Solid Rock Bible Camp, officials said." 5/8/06 Two Men Charged With Illegally Killing Bears " Two men have each been charged with illegally killing two brown bears in Katmai National Preserve in late July 2004. An investigation by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Alaska State Troopers, and the State of Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory determined that the four brown bears at issue were illegally killed along Funnel Creek near Mirror Lake and were left to rot in violation of federal regulations. None of the meat, hides, or skulls were salvaged, according to court records. Two men in their 20s from Kokhanok, a village along Iliamna Lake, have been charged with taking wildlife in a national preserve in violation of National Park Service regulations. The case has been deemed particularly significant because it represents the largest known number of brown bears killed by poachers in a single incident in national parks in Alaska. While hunting is allowed in Katmai National Preserve, NPS regulations incorporate the hunting laws and regulations of the State of Alaska to control hunting there. The charges against the two men are based upon regulatory violations for hunting the bears during a closed season and failing to salvage the skulls and hides of the bears. Each violation is punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. The case also involved two juveniles who were previously prosecuted by the State of Alaska’s Department of Law for offenses that included the illegal killing of a different bear in Katmai National Preserve. " 5/4/06 Hunter shoots mystery blonde Arctic bear "Investigators are trying to determine if a dirty blonde bear shot by a U.S. hunter in Arctic Canada is a polar bear, a grizzly or a cross between them." 5/2/06 Grizzly kills man staking claim " A sow grizzly attacked and killed a man who came within five metres of her and her cubs inside their den. The 28-year-old Whitehorse resident was killed Friday while staking a mineral claim east of Ross River in eastern Yukon" 5/4/06 "Emap’s London radio station Magic 105.4 has come under fire from an animal rights group for using a bear in its upcoming TV ad." 4/14/06 Men get prison, fines in grizzly killing "Two Idaho men were sentenced to prison and fines Wednesday in the 2002 killing of a yearling grizzly bear in eastern Idaho and destroying a radio tracking collar attached to the cub's mother." 4/8/06 Denali Park Road opens to Savage River; bears already out "Everybody was surprised to see a bear out this early and this far east," 3/21/06 Scientists opposed to grizzly delisting "Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem aren't ready to be taken off the endangered species list, according to more than 250 scientists who signed a letter to the federal government." 2/2/06 "The future of Mistaya, the lone remaining offspring of famous Banff grizzly Bear 66, remains cloudy, if not confusing. Mistaya was left an orphan after a train killed his mother, Bear 66, last Aug. 19 just east of Castle Junction. His two siblings were killed by vehicles on the Trans-Canada Highway within weeks of their mother’s death. Mistaya is currently living at the Calgary Zoo, along with Koda, a grizzly rescued from the Edmonton Valley Zoo. According to the zoo’s website, Koda is to be relocated to Golden B.C.’s Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort this spring. Zoo spokesperson Trish Exton-Parder said that at this point, the zoo is simply Mistaya’s caregiver; there are no concrete plans in place for his future. On Monday (Jan. 30), Parks Canada’s Marjorie Huculak said moving Koda to the Kicking Horse Refuge, 'was the intent from the beginning. I think he’s definitely going there. But our bear (Mistaya) was different. We were hoping to find the best situation for him. Zoocheck (Canada) wanted him back in the wild and we were willing to discuss rehabilitation, but it was very evident that was not an option. We’ve always said the cub is not the best candidate for rehabilitation. We haven’t decided yet on the best specific locale for him. There’s no easy solution to finding him a good home.'" 2/1/06 Eco-groups to file suit over grizzly, bull trout protections "Two environmental groups have filed a notice of intent to sue the Flathead National Forest for failing to provide Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears and bull trout. The Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan largely are focusing on the Forest Service’s failure to meet deadlines for implementing road-density standards, as required by the Flathead National Forest’s long-range forest plan. The 60-day notice of intent to sue is required in cases involving the Endangered Species Act. The forest did not meet five-year or 10-year targets for reducing road densities in grizzly bear habitat. The targets were established in 1995 by forest plan Amendment 19. Recognizing that they would not be able to meet the targets, forest officials revised their schedule and sought approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency charged with enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. In October, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a new biological opinion that basically approved an extended time frame for meeting the road-density standards." 2/1/06 Minister, public still in dark over grizzly data "In the last weeks before an announcement on Alberta’s contentious spring grizzly hunt, the man responsible for making a decision on the annual event has yet to look at grizzly data local conservationists say could be paramount to population numbers. Sustainable Development Minister David Coutts did, however, hear concerns voiced by Defenders of Wildlife Canada executive director Jim Pissot and Grizzly Bear program director Tracey Henderson about grizzly data they feel is being withheld from the public in a 30-minute meeting in Canmore last week. But Pissot said he worries the information he presented to the minister last Thursday, along with results of a DNA study and the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan, which have yet to be released to either the public or Coutts, are being presented too late. 'In the short time that the minister has to look at that information, how well can he and the people around him do that kind of an analysis?” Pissot said Tuesday. 'And how much of that analysis might be influenced by the faction that doesn’t want to concede that bears are in trouble?'" 2/1/06 DNA study shows highest concentration of bears in (Glacier) Park "The United States Geographical Survey study gathered 33,739 bear hair samples across some 8 million acres of Montana real estate from the Canadian border south to the Blackfoot in the summer of 2004. Since then, USGS scientist Kate Kendall and her staff have been analyzing the data as it comes in from Wildlife Genetics International. So far, about half of the data samples have come in, Kendall said earlier this week. The data has come up with some hard numbers and some trends, but the study still has a long way to go, cautions Kendall." 1/30/06 Historic ranch to be grizzly habitat "A historic dude ranch near Yellowstone National Park will be managed as grizzly bear habitat and big-game winter range under a plan signed by Gallatin National Forest officials. The plan directs management of the rugged 3,200-acre OTO Ranch north of Gardiner, and is a compromise meant to allow continued administrative use and maintenance of several historic buildings on the property. 'The primary intent of the land acquisition was to protect important wildlife habitat and provide access to public lands,' said Ken Britton, Gardiner District ranger. 'As a result, the majority of the ranch lands will be managed with an emphasis on grizzly bear and big-game winter range.'" 1/28/06 No delisting of grizzlies in Glacier area anytime soon "Although a formal effort is under way to delist the Yellowstone grizzly bear population, the Northern Continental Divide grizzly bear population is years from any possibility of delisting, said Chris Servheen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator. The recovery plan for the larger Northern Continental Divide population will have to be revised to account for new research that is expected to provide a vastly improved assessment of the population’s status, Servheen said. The announcement in November that the service would begin removing the Yellowstone grizzly population from the Endangered Species Act has raised questions about the bears that roam in and around Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. People ask about the potential for delisting that population 'all the time,' Servheen said." 1/26/06 Protecting a grizzly bear costs $6K/year "So what's one big ol' grizzly bear worth? Some might say it's impossible to put a price on such a magnificent wild animal that is an icon of the West. But how does $6,000 sound? That's about how much the government spent per grizzly bear to protect the species in the lower 48 states in 2004. That number is a rough estimate based on the amount that state and federal agencies spent on the bear, around $7.7 million, divided by the number of grizzly bears believed to be wandering the wilds of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, which is between 1,200 and 1,400. Still, the number gives some insight into how much it costs to look after some of the nation's most endangered animals and plants. The figures are part of a report to Congress on Wednesday that is intended to help put a price tag on endangered species spending." 1/25/06 Working for Bears or Barely Working? "Servheen told BW the population numbers come from 'peer-reviewed papers published in various journals,' most of which were written by members of the government-run Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. The nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, though, has requested the raw data supporting the papers, citing among other concerns a previous report that said approximately 10 percent of the data about grizzly bear populations had been inaccurately transcribed prior to being turned over to scientists. Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold said he has twice sent letters to Servheen asking for the data, in order to have it analyzed by "independent scientists." He was turned down the first time, and hasn't received an answer the second time. 'It could be a huge difference,' Honnold said. 'All of their numbers that relate to populations, and the population trends, whether it is increasing or decreasing, could be fundamentally wrong.' With several of the bears' staple food sources in decline, he said, it is essential to have accurate data on which to base the allowable mortality limits for bears after delisting. 'If they think they've got enough to go out and shoot bears, why wouldn't they be willing to share the basic data?' Servheen told BW that Earthjustice's request was 'preposterous and totally out of the realm of my experience.' He denied the possibility that such a review would turn up anything new, saying, 'It's part of a way to create doubt in the science and the scientists, because it doesn't meet their agenda. It's just unheard of for any kind of a scientist to be required to give his raw data to anyone else.' But it's not only the population numbers that Honnold says are suspect. Last year, the Bush administration rewrote some of the Forest Service's forest management plans, softening some habitat standards and removing their legally binding language. The Fish and Wildlife service originally planned to rely on those plans for guidance on protecting grizzly habitat, but in a January 10 article in the Jackson Hole News and Guide, Servheen admitted that the new standards were a problem. He was quoted as saying, 'We're expecting the Forest Service to fix it.'" 1/23/06 Numbers don't add up for grizzly delisting "Zero is the migration rate of bears into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Migrants bolster population growth rates, can prevent or correct local population extinction, and continuously add new genetic material to the local population. As best we can tell, the grizzly bears in the GYC are totally isolated (completely insularized). Migration provides none of these benefits. Seventy-five percent is an estimate of the retained genetic heterozygosity of today's Yellowstone grizzly bear population compared with what the species would have had a century ago. If Yellowstone were a zoo for grizzly bears it would be considered a failure by this criteria alone. The 0.125 is the inbreeding coefficient of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone population. It is what one would get from a marriage of first cousins. Well before a science of genetics existed, Charles Darwin, no biological fool, married his first cousin. The deleterious effects of the resulting inbreeding on his children caused him anguish in the last 20 years of his life. The -1% is the inexorable, per-generation loss of genetic heterozygosity in the Yellowstone grizzly bears. Inbreeding builds at the same rate. The 50/50 is the rough breakdown of the ratio between source habitat (positive population growth rate) and sink habitat (negative population growth rate). Such spatial features of the habitat makes very questionable the use of a single number for population growth. Ninety percent is the rough probability for a near-term catastrophic change in the populations ecology of the Yellowstone grizzly. This seems certain to come from the loss of the white bark pine, whose pine nuts supply the bears with a rich source of fat and protein in the month before hibernation. Taken together, these are not a set of good or encouraging numbers. It is unconscionable that government conservation scientists do not present all the relevant numbers. It is grievously erroneous that the public base policy decisions on incomplete science." (Guest commentary by Dr. Michael Gilpin. He is Professor of Conservation Biology (Emeritus) at the University of California, San Diego, an Affiliated Professor at Montana State University, and he has been involved with grizzly bear conservation issues since 1985. He has served on two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery teams and has consulted with state and federal agencies on 20 other endangered species.) 1/22/06 Grizzly 346: Her story begins in Yellowstone- ends in Idaho "Bear biologist Schwartz found 346's death and the death of her cub especially tragic. She was the reproducing sow who lived the furthest West in the Yellowstone ecosystem, a pioneer. 'She was a productive adult grizzly bear, and her young would have repopulated Idaho,' he said. Opponents to delisting point to her cub's death and the anti-grizzly attitude of many in Idaho as a reason to keep grizzlies under federal control. But her death won't be in vain if Idahoans heed her story, said Louisa Willcox, a grizzly bear expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Livingston, Mont. 'If there is any meaning in her death, it's in the lessons the bear can teach us if we want to listen,' Willcox said." 1/22/06 Poachers put bite on grizzly recovery "Poachers and vandals killed a near-record number of grizzly bears in 2005, setting back federal efforts to re-establish a healthy bear population in the northern Rockies. With such a large number of illegal kills, wildlife managers and grizzly advocates are raising concerns about a lack of money to manage bears in northwestern Montana and inconsistencies in punishing convicted grizzly bear killers." 1/21/06 Judge lifts restraining order on logging in Flathead National Forest "A federal judge has cleared the way for salvage logging in grizzly bear habitat in the Flathead National Forest while the bears are hibernating. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy had banned logging in the roadless areas that fall within areas burned by wildfires during the summer of 2003. The temporary restraining order was issued in response to a lawsuit that challenges post-fire management projects in the Swan Mountain Range west of Hungry Horse Reservoir and in the North Fork Flathead Basin. The Flathead National Forest filed a motion in November asking that the logging ban be lifted during winter months, and Molloy did so in a ruling filed Friday. Joe Krueger, the Flathead forest's environmental coordinator, said the initial order had the potential to set a precedent for banning all management activities year-round in core grizzly bear habitat." 1/21/06 NDP candidate in Canada raises Olympic concern "Judith Wilson, NDP candidate in the upcoming federal election, says Whistler is in danger of sacrificing its claim to staging the greenest Olympics ever if something isn’t done to protect grizzly bear habitat in the Callaghan Valley. 'Let’s not get into denial about the problem there are grizzlies in the valley and the Nordic ski facility will have an impact on that,' said Wilson. 'We could be heading for an environmental black eye on this.' Wilson said at this stage there is no perfect solution to protecting grizzly habitat, but she suggested the idea, after talking with environmentalists, of a horseshoe-shaped area of protected wilderness around the Nordic ski site. 'This would give them a wilderness corridor to traverse the area, and it would at least assure the local and international community that efforts to protect wildlife had been undertaken,' said Wilson." 1/21/06 Mining company pushes bear plan "After hearing that a proposed mine beneath the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness in Montana would help the survival of grizzly bears in the region, the leader of an Idaho legislative panel on Wednesday asked why mining officials were taking steps to conserve grizzly habitat in the first place. 'What's bears got to do with the mine' Sen. Hal Bunderson, R-Meridian, asked officials with Revett Minerals Inc., a Spokane Valley, Wash., company seeking government approval for a copper and silver mine at Rock Creek, Mont., about 25 miles across the Idaho border from Lake Pend Oreille. 'I understand the need to do water-quality mitigation, but when it comes to bear mitigation, that's just piling on and it's wrong,' said Bunderson, co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Environmental Common Sense Committee. Revett officials are hoping their plans to spend $18 million to increase grizzly protection around the Rock Creek Mine will improve chances that government regulators and courts will approve the necessary permits that have been sought by developers since 1987. Legal challenges have overturned two previous 'biological opinions' in favor of the project by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency is now at work on a third. A federal judge ruled last year that the service's conclusion that the mine posed no jeopardy to the bears protected under the Endangered Species Act was 'not rational.' Federal biologists estimate there are 10 to 15 grizzlies living in the south Cabinets near the proposed mine and another 20 to 25 are roaming the Cabinet Yaak Ecosystem to the north. The Fish and Wildlife Service would like to see the population recover to 90 to 100 bears." 1/20/06 Charges will not be filed against a hunter who shot a charging grizzly "Charges will not be filed against a hunter who shot a charging grizzly in October in the Scapegoat Wilderness along the Rocky Mountain Front. State and federal investigators determined that no criminal activity took place, said game warden Tom Flowers of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. On. Oct. 27, two out-of-state hunters and a guide were searching for deer and elk near Halfmoon Creek southwest of Augusta. The three surprised a grizzly, which charged. One of the hunters shot the bear from a distance of 15 paces with a .300 Weatherby magnum rifle, FWP said. " 1/19/06 Grizzlies aren't out of the woods "The grizzly bears of Yellowstone Park are a national treasure, owned by nobody, preserved in trust for everybody, like the gold reserves of Fort Knox, the memory of Louis Armstrong and the clear air over western Nebraska on a breezy spring day. For 31 years, those bears have been listed as 'threatened,' and therefore protected from hunting and certain other tribulations under the Endangered Species Act. But recently the Interior Department has proposed removing them from the list, and this year, after a period for public comment that ends on Feb. 15, Interior Secretary Gale Norton will make a decision. That decision, though political, will in some degree be informed by science. The scientific question is, How safe are Yellowstone's grizzlies from extinction? The political question is, How safe do Americans want them to be? The good news from Yellowstone comes in comparing two approximate numbers: roughly 200 bears in 1975, roughly 600 bears today. But to understand what those numbers mean, and what they don't mean, you need a few other facts. The grizzlies of Yellowstone Park are part of a bear population in a larger area, known as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which encompasses also Grand Teton National Park, parts of six national forests and some other lands under public and private ownership. That ecosystem, so far as bears are concerned, is an island. It's surrounded by landscape inhospitable to grizzly bears: farms, ranches, fences, Interstate highways, golf courses, trophy houses, malls, railroad lines and towns like the one where I live. Grizzlies from elsewhere do not immigrate to this ecological island. The Yellowstone bears are isolated, marooned, and have been for many years. It's nice to know that, under those circumstances, because of concerted management and conservation efforts by some good, hardworking people, the population has increased threefold, from very small to smallish. But it's also important to remember that insularity itself carries heightened risk. Why? Because any smallish, isolated population is especially vulnerable to bad luck -- like a failure of its food sources, an epidemic disease or a coincidence of both." 1/19/06 Cub orphaned by train destined for zoo " An orphaned grizzly bear cub whose mother was killed by a train in the Canadian Rockies cannot be returned to the wild. Instead, Mistaya, now in the Calgary Zoo, will be going to a zoo in British Columbia. Her companion, Koda, is destined for the Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge in Golden, British Columbia, the Calgary Sun reports. " 1/14/06 Vital Ground to protect land link for grizzlies "A recently completed conservation easement and bargain sale will protect an important piece of property adjacent to a grizzly bear linkage zone near Condon as well as help leverage federal funds for more conservation work in the Swan Valley. The Vital Ground Foundation and Bud Moore recently completed the transaction that will place Moore's 80-acre parcel under a conservation easement that will permanently limit development, while allowing traditional forest practices specifically designed to complement the area's wildlife habitat." 1/13/06 Griz meeting draws few in Jackson "In stark contrast to a grizzly bear open house in Cody the night before that drew several hundred people, a Jackson open house attracted fewer than 20 people to share their views on and ask questions about removing grizzlies from federal protection. A winter storm probably stymied more attendance, but just a small trickle of people came in and out of an open house Wednesday night, and most of those in the room were agency personnel. Still, people including Mack Bray of Jackson looked at tables of maps and questions and answers, and wanted to come to make his concerns for the grizzlies known. 'I think we have an informal consensus amongst private interests, state representatives and federal representatives and at the national level, to push through a quiet agenda of oil and gas exploration,' Bray said. That, and the continuation of agricultural power, are working together 'all to the detriment of the grizzly,' he said." 1/12/06 Will Yellowstone Grizzly Habitat Still Be Strictly Protected In National Forests? "As the federal government moves forward with plans to remove the greater Yellowstone grizzly bear population from the threatened species list, a new question has arisen about the bears' gauntlet of protection. A key provision justifying delisting is a document called the Conservation Strategy that serves as a framework for protecting critical bear habitat on federal lands in the future once the safeguards afforded by the Endangered Species Act are removed. The strategy requires federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service to restrictly hold the line and, in some instances, decrease the miles of road that currently circuit grizzly range. Studies after studies have shown a direct correlation between high road densities (built for timber sales, mining, recreation and other activities) which provide easy access to the backcountry and increased bear mortality. Now Doug Honnold, a respected attorney for the environmental law firm Earth Justice, says that a vital premise of the Conservation Strategy may, in fact, have already been undermined by the Forest Service during recent years of the Bush Administration. According to the legal procedure that guides stewardship of national forests, individual forests are managed by prescriptions layed out in Forest Plans that are drafted to guide management for 10 years. However, Honnold points out in an interview with reporter Rebecca Huntington of the Jackson Hole News & Guide Jackson Hole News & Guide that the Forest Service may be able to skirt habitat protection requirements for grizzlies because national forests are no longer required to adhere strictly to their plans. 'New Forest Service rules, adopted in 2004, treat forest plans as visionary, strategic documents without legally binding standards, according to Honnold. Earthjustice is suing the federal government over the new rule-making procedures,' Huntington writes. She quotes Honnold as saying, 'The Bush administration has changed the rules of the game, and the rules of the game are there will be no standards in forest plans. The forests can do whatever they want to. That's a major problem.'" 1/12/06 Alberta won't release grizzly population count "As a decision on whether Alberta will allow a spring grizzly hunt approaches, the provincial government has refused to release results of an extensive population count of the bears. Even the committee supposed to be advising the government on grizzlies can't get the survey, leaving its industry and environmental representatives frustrated and concerned the population is lower than feared. 'It's so outrageous and so wrong that they are able to sit on this important information,' Tracy Henderson of the Grizzly Bear Alliance said yesterday. Concerned over reports of declining grizzly numbers, Alberta's Sustainable Resources Department formed a grizzly bear "recovery team" in 2003 with both industry and environmental representation to advise it on how to proceed. It also commissioned a two-year survey using the best available techniques. The first part of the survey was delivered in 2004 and the second was completed recently. 'These have been the best population estimates that have ever been achieved,' said Gord Stenhouse, one of the authors of the report. 'It's good data.' So far, however, it's secret." 1/12/06 Bear cub rehabilitation held up "An alliance of wildlife groups have struck out in their attempt to win permission from the B.C. government to rehabilitate two orphan grizzly bear cubs now living in Alberta. The groups say they're willing to pay to have the cubs moved from their temporary home at the Calgary Zoo to a wildlife shelter in Smithers in northwestern B.C. Alberta authorities have said they'll allow the move only if the B.C. government approves. But Victoria says it won't issue the required permits. Matt Austin, of the B.C. Environment Ministry, says the two bears have been habituated to people too long, and they note the facility in Smithers has previously released only black bears – not grizzlies. But Angelika Langen, of the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter, says they have had success with more than 100 black bears, and cites her previous successes raising grizzly cubs in Germany. One of the Alberta cubs has been in captivity since March, and was transferred from the Edmonton Valley Zoo. The other cub was orphaned last summer in Banff, when his mother, known as Bear 66, was hit by a train – leaving her three cubs wandering along the Trans Canada Highway." 1/11/06 Cody meeting draws comment on grizzly plan "About 235 people gathered Tuesday evening in Cody for the only public hearing to be held on a draft plan to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list. The hearing in Cody Auditorium was preceded by an open house during which people discussed details of a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to turn over grizzly bear management to state agencies in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Tuesday's meeting was the first held in Wyoming since plans to delist the bear were announced in November. Similar meetings this week in Jackson, Bozeman, Mont., and Idaho Falls, Idaho, are informal open houses that will not include public hearings. Several speakers called for more hearings on the proposed delisting, saying a single forum was inadequate. 'I am somewhat disappointed that after 30 years of working on the bear issue, and all the millions of man hours, we only have this one public hearing,' said wildlife photographer Dewey Vanderhoff of Cody. Sherry Sutherland of Belgrade, Mont., said she drove four hours to speak in Cody because there would be no hearing in Bozeman. 'That's a travesty of the public comment process,' she said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had funding for only one hearing, said Chris Servheen, the agency's grizzly bear recovery coordinator. He said about $1,500 was allocated for Tuesday's hearing." 1/11/06 Forest Service rules may hinder grizzly delisting "Bush administration changes to U.S. Forest Service rules last year may complicate efforts to remove the Yellowstone grizzly bear from the endangered species list. Part of the larger process of delisting the grizzly bear has been amending forest management plans for national forests around Yellowstone National Park. Those changes are intended, among other things, to protect habitat in those forests as the grizzly population continues to move and expand. But in early 2005, some of the Forest Service's overall planning regulations changed, cutting out 'standards,' which could be binding and enforceable, and replacing them with softer terms such as 'desired conditions,' 'objectives' and 'guidelines.'" 1/10/06 Federal government working toward delisting grizzles "The federal government continues to move ahead in its efforts to remove Endangered Species Act protections for the grizzly bears in and near Yellowstone National Park. Delisting the grizzly won't be easy, and it isn't likely to come quickly, but it's the right thing to do, according to Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 'I think it's the greatest success under the Endangered Species Act,' Servheen said Monday at an open house at the Bozeman Holiday Inn. He appeared with officials from a number of state and federal agencies. Declaring a species as threatened or endangered is not like declaring a piece of land to be wilderness, he said. Species aren't meant to be listed forever, he said, and Yellowstone grizzlies have more than doubled their population in the last 30 years to 600 or more bears today. Plus, about 9,200 square miles will be managed with grizzly bear needs in mind. 'Our job is to fix the problem and move on,' said Servheen, who has spent 25 years working on grizzly recovery. Most environmental groups applaud the bear's rebound, but they say it's too soon to delist them, which means bears outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks would be managed by the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Michael Scott, director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, pointed to three major improvements his group wants to see before it will support delisting. € Wyoming's grizzly bear plan calls for too few protections of bears and not enough protected habitat for them. € Grizzlies breed slowly and need to have a better 'safety net' in case populations drop, so a decision to relist can be made quickly 'and we don't have to argue about it for 15 years.' € Funding for management and monitoring of bears needs to be assured. " 1/10/06 "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated a public debate on Monday over its plan to lift federal protections from grizzly bears in the Yellowstone National Park area, a measure that would pave the way for hunting of the bears in surrounding Western states. Millions of tourists visit Yellowstone annually hoping to see the outsize, hump-shouldered bears that were hunted and trapped to near extinction before being classified in 1975 as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. In the past three decades, the number of grizzlies in Yellowstone and surrounding areas -- eastern Idaho, southern Montana and northwest Wyoming -- has risen to more than 600 from 136, prompting the government to propose removing that population from the list of protected wildlife. Public hearings on the proposal began on Monday in Montana and will conclude on Thursday in Idaho. If the measure is approved, which could happen by the end of the year, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will oversee management of grizzlies that have ventured outside the park. Each state has crafted a plan to allow hunting of some of those grizzlies under certain conditions, a practice banned for more than 30 years. Each state would have the authority to kill bears considered chronic nuisances to humans or livestock." 1/06/06 Grizzly bears choosing to investigate new areas, expand their range "Montana's grizzly bears are moving on out and turning up in places that are surprising researchers every year. New technology, especially collars that tap into global positioning satellites, are helping researchers like Montana Grizzly Bear Recovery coordinator Chris Servheen follow some of their remarkable wanderings. For instance, last year a young grizzly living on the west slope of the Mission Mountains decided to check out the countryside and made its way clear down into the Lubrecht Experimental Forest, just 30 miles northeast of Missoula. After a bit of exploration, it returned home. 'I was shocked,' said Servheen. 'We had no idea bears were traveling into that area. Is it unusual? We really don't know.' This year researchers have also seen bears exploring the Ovando area in the Paws Up Ranch area south of Highway 200 'That's new. We haven't seen that before,' he said. Grizzly bears are also surveying the area west of the Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge. Servheen said he never saw Mission Mountain bears venturing that far when he was doing his Ph.D. work in the late '70s and early '80s. People living along the Rocky Mountain Front are also seeing bears moving out into the plains in places old-timers had never spotted them before." 1/06/06 Illegal killing of grizzly bears prompts worries "A federal grizzly bear expert contends wildlife managers desperately need more resources to monitor the threatened bears in northwestern Montana, where he says the 11 known illegal grizzly killings last year were the highest in recent memory. 'This is urgent, considering the number of illegal kills right now,' Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear coordinator, said Friday." |