Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Erin Edge, Rocky Mountain Regional Associate

What’s in store for grizzlies in the lower 48? After more than 30 years of protection under the Endangered Species Act, there are an estimated 1600-1700 grizzly bears south of the Canadian border. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other land and wildlife management agencies have made significant progress restoring grizzly bears to a portion of their historic range. But much remains to be accomplished to assure our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy and appreciate this noble symbol of America’s natural heritage.

Map of grizzly bear recovery areas, courtesy of USFWS.

Currently, the majority of grizzly bears can be found in just two major ecosystems with the rest scattered across much smaller subpopulations. Here’s a quick breakdown of all grizzly bear populations found in the lower 48:

• The 9,600-square mile Northern Continental Divide ecosystem (NCDE) in Montana includes Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and is home to an estimated 900-1,000 grizzly bears. This population is relatively stable and has continued to increase slightly each year.
• The 9,200-square mile greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE) includes Yellowstone National Park and an estimated 600 to 700 grizzly bears. This population appears to have stabilized at current levels.
• The 2,200-square mile Selkirk ecosystem in northeastern Washington, northern Idaho and southern Canada has fewer than 100 grizzly bears with a slight increase each year.
• The 2,600-square mile Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho has fewer than 50 grizzly bears. This population continues to decline slightly each year, but the decline appears to be tapering off.
• The 9,500-square mile North Cascades ecosystem in Washington has fewer than 20 grizzly bears and very little is known about them. In order to recover this population, grizzly bears will likely need to be added to the area from other populations.
• The 5,600-square mile Bitterroot ecosystem that straddles western Montana and central Idaho is currently void of grizzly bears but has been identified as containing excellent bear habitat and is key to connecting the GYE and NCDE populations.

The long-term survival of any species depends on the number and size of individual sub-populations, survival rates of each and connectivity between populations – the larger and more connected, the better the bears can withstand natural disasters, disease or extreme food shortages. For example, the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem is currently  disconnected from the larger and more robust NCDE population. That’s why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state agencies are moving bears from the NCDE to the Cabinet-Yaak in an effort to save this population. This is desperately needed for the isolated North Cascades population as well, but politics has delayed grizzly bear augmentations here.

Securing quality habitat, improving human tolerance and minimizing conflicts between grizzly bears and people, particularly on private lands within or between identified recovery areas, will continue to be an ongoing challenge. But by working together, we can make sure that grizzly bears have safe passage to move across the landscape, thereby improving genetic diversity and boosting bear populations in more vulnerable ecosystems.

To that end, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released its draft Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy. The strategy is intended to guide the management of grizzly bears and habitat protections on public lands after federal Endangered Species Act protections are removed. Among other things, the strategy would create a Primary Conservation Area, three additional management zones, and two Demographic Connectivity Areas. This geographic arrangement is designed to maintain a stable core population while providing varying degrees of protection in key linkage areas to encourage bears to disperse.

The Service has also proposed revisions to the Greater Yellowstone Recovery Plan that may change future population estimates. The GYE is the most isolated population in the lower 48 and has been hovering close to federal recovery objectives for several years. It is critical that bears in this population are able to expand into secure habitats that will once again link them with the more genetically diverse NCDE population and/or other grizzly bear populations.

As we close out Bear Awareness Week, we would like to celebrate the significant efforts put into grizzly bear recovery. It was humans that drove bears from an estimated 50,000 animals to fewer than 1,000 bears over approximately 170 years. And it is humans that must bring them back. Grizzly bears are the second slowest reproducing land mammal in North America, so recovery will not happen overnight. However, multiple conservation groups, local communities and agencies are dedicating efforts to ensure a place for grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.

The future of grizzly bears remains uncertain, but as Abraham Lincoln said, “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” Together with our partners, we will continue to work one day at a time to minimize grizzly bear deaths and improve social tolerance through continued outreach and on-the-ground coexistence projects.

Help us run more ads like this one that ran in the Washington Post Express today.

Service delays national delisting…for now – We were all surprised and greatly relieved on Monday when the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was delaying indefinitely its premature national gray wolf delisting proposal (see our press statement). Hopefully, the delay means that the Obama administration is rethinking its position. Perhaps the 112,295 (and counting) email messages our wolf supporters have sent to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell haven’t fallen on deaf ears. Or maybe it was convincing letters from independent biologists, the American Society of Mammalogists and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sent to agency officials in the past week that made the difference. Whatever it was, we need to keep the pressure up to ensure that this isn’t just a temporary reprieve. Wolves still need federal protection to recover in vast areas with excellent habitat, such as the Pacific Northwest, northern California and the southern Rockies. You can help us secure a brighter future for wolves by supporting our latest outreach efforts, including an advertising campaign that launched today in the Washington Post Express!

Meanwhile, our colleagues at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a lawsuit demanding information from 2010 meetings between state and federal agencies regarding wolf biology and management. Their efforts may help reveal the motivation behind the premature delisting of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and shed light on current plans to abandon wolf recovery nationwide. As PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said, “By law, Endangered Species Act decisions are supposed to be governed by the best available science, not the best available deal.” We couldn’t agree more, and Defenders Executive Vice President Don Barry emphasized that point on the air recently when he had the chance to discuss the importance of maintaining the integrity of the ESA and protections for gray wolves. Listen to his interview with KTVA near Los Angeles:

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Bill sponsors and supporters join Gov. Inslee for the signing of critical wolf funding legislation in Washington.

Gov. Inslee signs wolf funding bill — Washington ranchers will soon have more resources at their disposal to help wolves and livestock coexist, thanks to the state legislature. Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill this week that is expected to raise more than one million dollars for nonlethal wolf conservation management efforts and compensation for livestock producers.  Champions of the bill included Representatives Hans Dunshee and Kristine Lytton and Senators Kevin Ranker and Christine Rolfes.  Defenders regional wolf conservationist Suzanne Stone was present at signing and added, “This is a great example of the benefit of working collaboratively to tackle conflicts instead of just fighting over them.  This legislation is a win for wolves and for ranchers.” Thanks to all our colleagues and supporters in Washington and across the country who helped get this key piece of legislation passed and signed!

Oregon livestock losses highlight need for nonlethal deterrents – According to the latest update from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state’s wolves have been getting into more trouble with livestock. Last week, OR-4 of the Imnaha pack was implicated in the death of a yearling cow, and at least one Umatilla wolf was involved with the death of four sheep. Overall livestock losses to wolves are still extremely low in Oregon, as well as across the rest of the West. But these incidents provide an important wake-up call for ranchers in the region who are turning their animals out on pasture this spring and summer. Using proactive strategies and nonlethal deterrents is essential to minimizing livestock losses in wolf country. Often all it takes is a few guard dogs, a range rider or portable fencing to ensure that livestock and wildlife can safely coexist. Such measures will be vitally important as wolves continue to expand into areas where they have been absent for nearly 80 years.

Discover wolves in North America – A new series called “North America” premiered on the Discovery Channel on Sunday, and of course wolves were featured prominently. Watch these incredible clips of wild wolves chasing bison and caribou, engaged in the perennial showdown between predator and prey:

Erin Edge, Rockies and Plains Associate

In the spring of 2009, two grizzly bears named Rainy and Scarhip were seen frolicking through fields and across highways. Soon thereafter, both bears were captured near Seeley Lake, Montana and fitted with tracking collars. To have any chance of survival, Rainy and Scarhip would have to avoid a variety of temptations, including garbage cans, birdfeeders, and chicken coops – all containing delicious snacks for a hungry bear.

A grizzly bear roams into an apple orchard.

Needless to say, the outlook was not good, and Scarhip was getting into people’s yards almost immediately. But food attractants aren’t the only threat to grizzly bears, and in October of 2009, Scarhip was mistakenly shot and killed by a black hear hunter. Meanwhile, Rainy stayed out of trouble all summer long before heading to her den north of Lake Alva. The following spring she emerged with two cubs and spent the next few months in the Placid Lake area. Then, suddenly, on July 14th, she was documented near Seeley Lake again, feeding on garbage, grain, bird seed and dog food. Females with cubs need as many calories as they can find, and Rainy had hit the jackpot.

That was the beginning of the end for Rainy. Before long, she and her cubs were climbing onto porches, damaging buildings and approaching people. Due to escalating concerns for human safety, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks decided to trap all three bears. But it was too late — one of Rainy’s cubs was hit by a car crossing Highway 83. A month later, FWP trapped Rainy and her remaining cub and sent them to a zoo in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sadly, the cub died a year later from a rare fungal infection, while Rainy still remains at the zoo.

The saddest part of the story, however, is that the loss of these bears was almost entirely avoidable. Simple solutions like electric fencing are highly effective at securing attractants like bee yards, apple orchards, lambing pastures, chicken coops and compost piles. Other successful deterrents include bear-resistant garbage enclosures and using livestock guard dogs, range riders and alternative grazing methods.

Some of these tools can be expensive, but there are resources available to help residents protect their property and prevent conflict. For example, Defenders of Wildlife started a program in 2010 to help pay for smaller fencing projects. So far the program has secured 58 sites in Montana and helped save grizzly bears.

Electric fencing around bear attractants like chicken coops can make a big difference.

Take the Morris family, for instance. They’re a 4-H family from northwest Montana with pigs, goats, sheep and chickens. Last year, the Morrises routinely had grizzly bears on their property and had Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks on “speed dial.” They wanted to install a sturdy electric fence but didn’t think they could afford one. FWP directed the Morrises to our incentive program, which helped pay for installing the fence they wanted — a win-win solution for both bears and people. The Morrises finished their electric fence last October and are expecting local wildlife residents to be quite “shocked” when they come around this spring.

Since 1997, Defenders of Wildlife has also been compensating ranchers for livestock losses to grizzly bears. This year, Montana will take this program over through the state’s Livestock Loss Board. Though not a perfect solution, compensation programs help mitigate the financial impact on ranchers and their families. But compensation only addresses conflicts after the damage has already been done. It’s far better to find ways to prevent conflicts from occurring in the first place. And on the rare occasions when these tools aren’t enough, wildlife managers need the flexibility to relocate or remove grizzly bears that are deemed a serious threat to humans.

Aldo Leopold, the grandfather of wildlife conservation, once wrote, “Relegating grizzlies to Alaska is about like relegating happiness to heaven; one may never get there.”

By the late 1800s, this became a real fear. An estimated population of 50,000 grizzly bears plummeted to just a few hundred in less than one percent of their historic range. Fortunately, grizzly bears were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1975 and have been making a strong comeback ever since. Today, there are approximately 1,700 grizzly bears in the lower 48. Most of us have welcomed these magnificent creatures back to our landscape. But it will take concerted efforts by all of us living in grizzly country to ensure continued recovery of the species. Ultimately, the fate of grizzly bears in Montana and across the West still rests in our hands.

I hope grizzlies are never relegated to Alaska nor happiness to heaven. And hopefully, by working together, we can ensure that our children and grandchildren can continue to find both right here in Montana.

To learn more about what you can do to coexist with grizzly bears, visit defenders.org/GotGrizzlies.

Originally published by Montana Public Radio

Happy Bear Awareness Week, everyone! To kick things off this year, I thought I’d share a story about what inspired me to get involved with fighting to protect grizzly bears in Montana.

My first bear encounter

In the late ‘90s, I was working in Yellowstone National Park as a waitress, a city girl inexperienced about wilderness. Wildlife, in my mind, consisted only of the opossums, deer, raccoons and squirrels that had frequented my neighborhood in Missouri. Little did I know, my summer job would forever change my conception of wildlife – and my entire life.

A family moment. (Photo Credit: Stephen Oachs)

One sunny day I set out on a hike with friends into Hayden Valley. The grass was as tall as me, gold and thick, and bison grazed in every direction. Suddenly, we noticed a grizzly bear off in the distance. My instinct was to run in the opposite direction, and I actually did briefly until a friend asked where I was going. Sheepishly, I stopped. We took out our binoculars and the grizzly stood up, her coat gleaming in the afternoon sun. Then, the small brown head of bear cub popped out of the grass. Finally, a third grizzly bear emerged, slightly larger than the little cub. Three grizzlies! At once, all three bears dropped into the tall grass and disappeared.

Media headlines were racing though my head: “Female grizzly attacks hikers to defend her cubs!” I was horrified and certain that she was going to pop up right in front of us—a mad, mama bear—but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Soon, she reappeared farther off, near a wet, muddy hole. She lay down on her back watching the other two roll in the mud.

In that exact moment I was forever changed. All the information I had received about bears through movies, TV and news articles was inaccurate and sensational. This was beyond a doubt, what we humans like to call a “family moment.” The cubs were playing while mom soaked up some sunshine. I knew I had to better educate myself about bears and that I needed to share what I learned.

Helping people and grizzlies coexist

This moment comes to mind every spring when bears emerge from hibernation and we start gearing up for our summer field season. For the past 10 years, I’ve been working to promote tolerance and find ways for humans and grizzlies to coexist. My job is to make sure that people are doing their part to secure attractants so that bears can keep themselves out of trouble and continue to thrive on the landscape.

Me and Russ doing grizzly bear outreach in Missoula, Mont.

My colleague Russ Talmo and I got started early this year by participating in several workshops and outreach events. This included talking about raising chickens in bear country at two Montana Pastured Poultry Workshops hosted by the National Center for Appropriate Technology in cooperation with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. We also set up remote cameras at a lambing pasture on the Rocky Mountain Front and, while we didn’t catch any bears, we do have footage of a coyote, a skunk, raccoons and lots of sheep.

Right now grizzlies are out of their dens looking for food such as glacier lilies, spring grasses  and deer and elk that have died over the winter. But anthropogenic attractants like garbage, birdfeeders, livestock, bees and chickens can quickly lure a winter-starved grizzly. To help keep bears away from these potential food sources, Defenders started an Electric Fencing Incentive program three years ago that reimburses residents 50% of the cost of an electric fence around a bear attractant. Between 2010 and 2012 we completed 58 fences. This year our goal is to complete another 50 fencing projects, and we are well on our way with over 25 people signed up already to participate.  Additionally, we are working with livestock producers on larger electric fence projects, range rider programs and helping to purchase livestock guard dogs.

I’ll keep you posted as our field season gets under way. We have lots of coexistence projects to complete and lots of great stories to share from our partners, so stay tuned!

Jonathan Proctor, Northern Rockies Representative

I have some great news from Montana: All 14 bad bison bills in the Montana Legislature were defeated!

Legislators opposed to the recent progress on wild bison restoration in Montana (including the restoration of 61 wild Yellowstone bison to Fort Peck Reservation and the increase in tolerance for roaming bison around Yellowstone) made 14 separate attempts this year to legislate wild bison out of existence in the state. And 14 times they were defeated.

Some of the legislation never made it to committee. Some bills did, but then died in committee. Still others made it through committees and one or both chambers, but not through the appropriations process. Three, however, passed through both houses and were sent to Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. If even one had become law, it would have seriously harmed or even ended our bison restoration work.

But thanks to you and many others who contacted the Governor in support of wild bison, he vetoed all three bills that made it to his desk. He vetoed the first one on April 22, and the final two were vetoed just last week. Please take the time to thank him right now with a quick email, a tweet or a post on his Facebook page.

©Diana LeVasseur

You may recall these bills from my previous blogs. The bills varied in specifics but all were meant to stop wild bison restoration. One would have allowed county commissioners to veto bison restoration anywhere in their counties, even on federal land or tribal land. Another would have allowed landowners to shoot all bison that step on private property as they wander out of Yellowstone National Park. Another would have forced state officials to remove or kill all bison that cross the imaginary Yellowstone boundary. Yet another would have banned bison restoration altogether.

Now, all 14 bills are just bad memories.

Defenders worked tirelessly with our tribal and conservation allies – and with you, our members – to make this happen. My favorite part was working with several tribes to organize and attend a rally they held inside the capitol building rotunda. The event included a drumming circle that reverberated throughout the building and the capitol’s first-ever pipe ceremony. I also thought the full page ad that several tribes placed in many Montana newspapers was very effective. It generated a lot of calls, and a copy was placed on every legislator’s desk just as several of the most damaging bills were coming up for major committee votes.

Although having to spend time fighting bad bills seems like a waste of time and money, it may prove beneficial in the long run for wild bison restoration. Bison supporters – tribes, hunters and conservationists – are working together now on bison conservation more than ever, and many tribes seem more eager to restore wild bison. More Montanans have heard about this issue as a result and are overwhelmingly on the side of wild bison.

Thomas Christian, member of the Fork Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribal Council, emceed the rally in Helena.

Thank you to everyone who worked together to defeat these bills, especially representatives of the Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Sioux, Salish, Kootenai, Nez Perce, Crow and Blackfeet Tribes; the Native American Caucus; tribal organizations like Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council and InterTribal Buffalo Council; hunting organizations like Gallatin Wildlife Association; lobbyists Ben Lamb and Jake Troyer; and conservation organizations including World Wildlife Fund, Buffalo Field Campaign, and National Wildlife Federation.

And thank you to our Montana members who contacted our state legislators, and all Defenders’ members for the support you’ve provided that makes outcomes like these possible. We can all breathe a sigh of relief (for now) and celebrate, knowing that bison still have a bright future in Montana. The legislature won’t meet again until 2015, and by then we hope even more Montanans will support the return of wild bison.

CEOs urge Sally Jewell to maintain wolf protections – Top environmental leaders sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell yesterday, asking her NOT to strip Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves nationwide. The pending national delisting proposal is expected to be released any day now and would remove federal  protections for gray wolves everywhere except for in the Southwest. The letter, signed by the chief executives of Defenders and five other prominent conservation groups, says the premature delisting would be disastrous for gray wolf recovery in America.

“Maintaining federal protections for wolves is essential for continued species recovery, and the unwarranted assault on wolves that commenced in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho after wolves in those states lost federal protections highlights the increasingly hostile anti-wolf policies of states now charged with ensuring the survival of gray wolf populations.”

The fate of America’s wolves is now in the hands of Secretary Jewell. Please contact her today and urge her to cancel plans to delist gray wolves across much of the lower 48 states. Help us reach our goal of sending 250,000 messages in support of continued wolf recovery!

Sheep rancher kills Yellowstone wolf – Hunting season is over in Wyoming, Montana and nearly all of Idaho, but that doesn’t mean wolves are no longer in danger. On Monday a rancher just near Gardiner, Montana killed a collared female wolf that he suspected of attacking his flock of sheep. The wolf, known as 831F, came from the Canyon Pack that spends much of its time in the Hayden Valley of Yellowstone National Park.

Federal investigators had determined that two wolves were responsible for killing 18 sheep, and the rancher was given two kill-on-sight permits as a result. However, lead Yellowstone wolf biologist Doug Smith told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that 831F was not the wolf responsible for the livestock losses. Instead, she was likely drawn into the area after the rancher left the carcasses on a bone pile on his property.

While some environmental groups suspect foul play, we see this as yet another important reminder of the importance of finding ways for people and wildlife to coexist on the landscape.

See the full news report from KPAX below: