Grizzlies’ Top Enemy: People Federal Official Calls New Western Montana Subdivisions ‘Minefield’ For Bears

Fifteen grizzly bears died or were removed from the Northern Rockies this year, half again as many as usual, and wildlife workers blame growing encroachment by humans and growing numbers of bears.

Of the eight bears that died, only two died of natural causes, and a third has not been determined, said Arnie Dood, endangered species coordinator for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The other five were killed by humans.

Many of the deaths and relocations came after bears found few huckleberries in the backcountry this summer and early fall and moved to lower elevations, only to get habituated to homes and new subdivisions along the east side of the Flathead Valley, the report said.

Such areas are “just a minefield for them,” said Chris Servheen, Northern Rockies grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The report was released here Wednesday at a meeting of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.

The subcommittee, comprised of about 15 federal and state agency administrators and scientists, oversees and monitors grizzly bear management from the Rocky Mountain Front to the Flathead Valley and from British Columbia to Montana Highway 200 over Rogers Pass. The area has the largest population of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.

In 1975, the grizzly was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Since then, efforts have been made to recover the species. Roughly 1,000 of the big omnivores, which eat plants and meat, remain in the Yellowstone and Northern Rockies ecosystems.

Dood’s draft report said two grizzlies were killed by trains and three were mistaken for black bears and illegally shot by hunters. One, which was found drowned in the South Fork of the Flathead below Hungry Horse Dam, had a malfunctioning radio collar that failed to expand as designed, which might have hastened its death.

A yearling was killed by another bear on the Rocky Mountain Front. Another grizzly was found dead from natural causes at Trout Lake in Glacier National Park.