An excellent article by the inimitable Ron Chaney on the update to Endangered Species Act protection for grizzly bears . . .

All grizzly bears in the Lower 48 United States would be federally managed as a single population under a proposed U.S Fish and Wildlife Service rule released on Wednesday.

That DPS, or distinct population segment, would retain the grizzly’s threatened status under the Endangered Species Act and reject petitions from the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to delist the bears. In its Wednesday announcement, FWS said it found the states’ petitions “not warranted” for the two largest concentrations of grizzlies surrounding Yellowstone National Park and Montana’s Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

“After a thorough review of the best scientific and commercial data available, the Service found grizzly bear populations in those two ecosystems do not, on their own, represent valid DPSs (distinct population segments),” the FWS announcement stated.

Continue reading . . .

This sounds like a really good idea. If they can make it stick . . .

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Wednesday rejected petitions by state governments in Montana and Wyoming to delist grizzly bears in their respective recovery zones, moving instead to establish a single distinct population segment encompassing grizzly habitat in both states, as well as in Idaho and Washington.

“This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting,” FWS Director Martha Williams said in a prepared statement. “And the proposed changes to our … rule will provide management agencies and landowners more tools and flexibility to deal with human/bear conflicts, an essential part of grizzly bear recovery.”

The agency announced it is publishing an independently peer-reviewed updated species status assessment that compiles the best available scientific information, which helps to inform decision-making.

Continue reading . . .

This is pretty interesting. This past summer, Montana FWP translocated a couple of adult grizzlies from the Middle Fork Flathead to the Yellowstone area. Here’s what happened . . .

The lines on the map look like the doodling of a toddler. The pink line makes big loops that sometimes overlap. The green line is wound so tightly, it just looks like a big blob. Though they sometimes get close to each other, they seldom intersect.

The lines show the movements of the female grizzly bear (pink) and male grizzly bear (green) that were relocated from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) this past summer. Both ecosystems have populations of grizzly bears that have surpassed recovery goals. However, the translocation effort was designed to help increase the genetic diversity of the GYE population, which has been isolated from nearby populations for many years. It’s an effort that may be repeated in the future, depending on how close the two populations eventually grow.

“This just jump starts what very likely will also happen naturally,” said Ken McDonald, head of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ Wildlife Division.

Continue reading . . .

Sierra Club and Save the Yellowstone Grizzly  is showing Return of the Grizzly around the region. It is scheduled to be shown at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish on Jan 29th at 5:30pm with a question and answer period to follow. This is a project spearheaded by Doug Peacock. NFPA is a co-sponsor of this presentation.

This powerful 37-minute documentary follows the path and challenges of the “explorer bear,” the pioneering young male grizzlies that come from small, isolated core populations. The grizzly bear needs to explore and pioneer new habitats to spread its gene pool, and its long journeys are increasingly driven–and hemmed in–by the ravages of climate change. Return of the Grizzly is premiering NOW at numerous theaters in the West.