Decision Upcoming On Restoring Grizzlies
With public comment over, federal officials now take up the question of whether grizzly bears should be reintroduced to the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho and western Montana.
The Bitterroot region is the only one of six recovery areas in the West being considered for actual reintroduction of bears under the federal Grizzly Bear Recovery Program, said Dianne Daley, spokeswoman for the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee in Missoula.
Some other areas have begun programs designed to increase existing grizzly populations.
Public comment on the Bitterroot plan ended Monday, after a one-month extension. An estimated 650 comments poured in from livestock, environmental, timber and other special interest groups, as well as private citizens.
A similar reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park over the past few years has been met with stern opposition from ranchers, farmers and other groups.
Daley said the grizzly plan has been less contentious.
“I think we’ve done a better job of keeping the local communities and politicians informed,” she said Tuesday.
Opinions on what should be done varied widely.
“I think that every alternative is getting shot at from all sides,” Daley said.
No grizzlies are believed to remain in the Bitterroots, a winding range running north and south roughly along the Idaho-Montana border.
Preliminary Bitterroot proposals call for bringing in 20 to 30 grizzlies over five years. Bears would be captured in British Columbia or from recovered U.S. populations and released in the Bitterroots.
The interagency committee that will draft the plan is made up of staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, National Parks Service, Bureau of Land Management and the four state fish and game agencies of Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
The committee could decide on a full-scale reintroduction of grizzlies, a more moderate reintroduction plan, or it could decide that grizzlies should not be brought in at all.
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