Tag Archives: grizzly bears

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks releases spring bear report

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

It’s that time of year again. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks released their spring bear report to various media outlets Friday, encouraging people to get ready for hungry bears emerging from hibernation . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear managers meet every year in mid-March to prepare for the state’s bears to emerge from hibernation. About the same time, male grizzly bears are already stirring and that is why April 1st is the target date FWP bear managers recommend for bringing in winter bird feeders and seed, cleaning yards and collecting and disposing of bear attractants that have accumulated over winter.

NORTHWESTERN MONTANA
Tim Manley, FWP Region 1 grizzly bear specialist, said it is especially important for residents to clean up around their homes early in April. In recent years, deep mountain snowpack and heavy spring snowfall have pushed bears into the valley bottoms earlier in the season and for longer than usual.

“On the east side of the Flathead Valley during 2010, we had 18 grizzly bears we knew spent much of April and the first half of May in the valley . . .”

Continue reading . . .

Grizzly’s threatened status appealed in Oregon court

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

From today’s Flathead Beacon . . .

Dueling attorneys for a conservation group and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offered starkly different opinions Monday about the future of the grizzly bear population in and around Yellowstone National Park, if the bear is taken off the threatened species list.

Continue reading . . .

Bear activity rises as temperatures fall

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

The Flathead Beacon has a nice overview of all the late-season bear activity — not to mention a handy one-sentence definition of “hyperphagia” . . .

As the weather begins to cool for fall’s arrival, Flathead Valley residents may notice a heightened amount of bear activity in the lower basins as the animals continue packing away calories before hibernation.

Read the full article . . .

FWP captures five bears in seven days in Flathead County

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens have captured five “problem” bears in seven days throughout Flathead County. Three of them, a good-sized sow and two cubs, were relocated to the North Fork, another had to be put down and one was dropped off east of the Swan Range. This year’s poor berry crop has sent an unusually large number of bears down-valley into settled areas as they try to fatten up prior to hibernation.

The Daily Inter Lake has a good write-up on the situation; the Missoulian also has coverage. The Flathead Beacon has the actual FWP report, along with a pretty cool photo.

Recent wolf & grizzly bear rulings set back progress, biologists, managers say

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Here’s a good overview from today’s Missoulian of the trade-offs involved with two recent federal court rulings concerning wolf and grizzly bear management. Chris Servheen’s comments regarding the potential negative impact on grizzly bear recovery are particularly interesting . . .

Wolves and bears don’t behave well in courtrooms.

But the two big predators are likely to spend the next 18 months there as their advocates and enemies try to untangle them from the federal Endangered Species Act.

Last week, Montana wildlife managers decided to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy’s Aug. 5 decision placing the gray wolf back under federal protection. Meanwhile, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials in Missoula appealed another Molloy ruling that prevented state management of Yellowstone ecosystem grizzly bears.

Read the full article . . .

Easement established to protect grizzly bear habitat in North Fork

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

The Vital Ground Foundation has secured a 160-acre conservation easement in the North Fork Valley, just a little ways north of Columbia Falls.

Here’s the lead-in from the official press release . . .

The Vital Ground Foundation announced today that it has secured a 160-acre conservation easement in the North Fork Flathead Valley of northwestern Montana, roughly five air miles southwest of Glacier National Park. The property is located between the Whitefish Range to the west and the Livingston Range to the east. A conservation easement is a perpetual agreement between a landowner and a land trust that limits future development of the land in order to protect its conservation values.

Focused on protecting habitat specific to the needs of the threatened grizzly bear, the Cedar Creek Conservation Easement is Vital Ground’s first project in this corner of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE). As development pressures from the growing community of Columbia Falls push into more remote and wild areas like the protected property, the easement will ensure the permanent protection of the property’s wildlife, riparian and open space values.

Read the entire press release . . .

Eastbound grizzlies

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Other than the grizzly connection, this is not really North Fork related, but it’s pretty interesting. According to an article in last Thursday’s New West, a whole new group of people are going to have to get used to having grizzly bears in the neighborhood . . .

Montanans living along the winding Teton River, well east of the Rocky Mountain Front were quick to notice their new neighbor this summer. As early as the beginning of July, ranchers and other landowners along the prairie began intermittently spotting a solitary grizzly bear journeying east, away from the mountains.

Read the entire article . . .

Appeals court: Flathead NF managed road work, grizzly habitat properly

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From today’s online edition of the Missoulian . . .

Federal officials did a good job of balancing road work and grizzly bears in the Flathead National Forest, according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“It’s a very significant victory for us,” Flathead forest planning staff officer Rob Carlin said Wednesday. “It supports us in the direction we’ve been taking at the Flathead.”

The court combined two cases involving road removal in areas burned in the 2003 wildfires. One was in the Roberts/Wedge fire along the North Fork of the Flathead River, and the other was along the west side of Hungry Horse Reservoir. Both areas have large grizzly bear populations and are covered by special forest plan rules for how many miles of road are allowed in grizzly habitat.

Read the entire article . . .

Park takes heat over bear deaths

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From today’s online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

The deaths of two grizzly bears in Glacier National Park last week has caused a stir in western Montana as bear biologists evaluate the park’s decision to remove a mother and two of her cubs.

Biologist Charles Jonkel of the Great Bear Foundation in Missoula disagreed with the killings and reported numerous phone calls from concerned residents.

Read the entire story . . .

Old Man Lake griz killed; one cub dies from tranquilizer dart

Environmental Issues, News,

This evening, Glacier Park personnel killed the “Old Man Lake” grizzly. Despite resuscitation efforts, one of her cubs died from the effects of a tranquilizer dart. The Flathead Beacon and Missoulian have the story . . .

Grizzly Cub Transferred from Glacier Park

Human-conditioned grizzly bear killed by rangers in Glacier Park; cub dies from tranquilizer dart