Changes Sought In Bear Program Montana Governor Offers Qualified Support For Grizzly Reintroduction
Gov. Marc Racicot pledged support Tuesday for reintroducing grizzly bears in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, but only if some changes are made in the federal plan.
Racicot said he wants guarantees that transferring bears from other areas won’t delay removing the grizzly from the endangered species list in the region. He also insisted on more authority for a proposed citizens’ group to assist in managing the new bear population.
The governor’s concerns were contained in a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is preparing a final environmental impact statement on bear reintroduction.
Chris Servheen, who heads the project for the federal agency in Missoula, called Racicot’s suggestions constructive and said they can be incorporated into the plan when the final environmental report is written.
“There’s nothing really surprising and nothing is really dramatic,” he said. “What he wants in many cases is more detail on what we have in the document. That’s fair enough. I think we can do that.”
Tom France, a lawyer for the Montana Wildlife Federation, also applauded Racicot’s recommendations. He was especially pleased with the governor’s demand for greater involvement of the Citizens Management Committee to keep all the authority over the reintroduction project from resting with the secretary of the interior.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has endorsed a plan developed by conservation and timber industry groups, under which a minimum of 25 grizzlies would be relocated into the wilderness area over five years.
The plan would not provide the bears with the same protection afforded the grizzly as an endangered species elsewhere. Designated an experimental, nonessential population, the bears could be shot in self-defense or removed if threatening livestock.
Critics have said the wilderness area, which straddles the border between north-central Idaho and southwestern Montana, is not large enough to support the bears because of human population centers in valleys on two sides.
Racicot said one of his fears is that taking bears from the Yellowstone National Park and northern Rocky Mountain region to seed the new population will count against the numbers needed to have the grizzly removed from the list of endangered species in those areas.
xxxx GRIZZLY PLAN The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has endorsed a plan developed by conservation and timber industry groups, under which a minimum of 25 grizzlies would be relocated into the wilderness area over five years.