This Meddling Is Bad For Grizzlies And Humans

August 4th started out to be a beautiful day, only to turn sour before noon - not because of the weather but because of the Idaho Fish and Game Department and the U.S. Forest Service.

During breakfast I suggested to my wife that we drive up the west side road in Boundary County and pick a few huckleberries in one of our favorite spots. I wanted to do a bit of fly fishing at the same time.

My wife agreed, saying it sounded like fun on this beautiful day. We have been going into that particular area for over 20 years because there is one large blackberry patch and at least four huckleberry patches right along the road on fairly flat ground. We are senior citizens and this is one area where my wife can pick and enjoy it.

We left home about 9 a.m. and drove some 40 miles north on the west side road and then up the Creek Canyon road. The road follows the creek up the canyon about five miles and then levels off.

Right at the top of the canyon we confronted a Forest Service locked gate. We were about a mile from the black raspberry patch and about two miles from the first huckleberry patch. The others are scattered along the next 10 or 12 miles.

I was very upset at finding our access blocked to an area that has been open to the public ever since the road was put in over 20 years ago. There were no signs at the lower end of the road saying it was closed.

I had to leave my wife in the car while I walked up the road over half a mile even to get into the creek. The huckleberries were ripe on a few scattered bushes but we were a long way from the good patches.

These road closures in Bonner and Boundary counties are supposed to protect grizzly bears and caribou but the program is counterproductive.

I have lived in Sandpoint since 1946, and during that time I have been very interested in our fish and wildlife resources. I owned and operated a sporting goods store in Sandpoint for 14 years and sold logging equipment for eight years after that. During this time I was in close contact with most all of the sportsmen and women, loggers, miners and people who enjoyed the great outdoors of our area.

Ever since I have lived in Idaho, the grizzly bear has been listed as a non-game animal and was protected. Bear hunters and all sportsmen respected the grizzly and were careful not to shoot a bear with the distinctive hump on its back. I feel certain that not one grizzly was killed by hunters during the first 40 years I lived in Idaho.

Three grizzly bears were killed during that 40 years, but only because they were killing livestock or doing other damage.

In the last 10 years, or since the Idaho Fish and Game Department has been studying them and started closing all of our roads, 13 grizzly bears have been killed. If the biologist had left the roads open there would be 13 more bears than we have now.

There is no good reason for all of the road closures in Bonner and Boundary counties. The closures cut off access to a lot of good hunting, fishing and good huckleberry picking areas.

Roads and/or people have never caused stress in the caribou or grizzlies. If they did, how could Glacier Park have one of the largest concentrations of grizzly bears, even though a road runs right through the middle of its range.

A friend of mind drove through there with his family a couple of years ago and hoped to see a grizzly. They saw seven, and two were only about 75 feet from the road. The bears paid no attention to the cars or people.

I personally saw a grizzly sow and two cubs digging up roots or possibly a ground squirrel less than 50 yards from the road going into Denali Park in Alaska. They ignored the cars and the people who stopped to watch.

Right from the start, when state and federal agencies started closing the roads, many of the residents of our area became upset. The word started going around: “If you see a grizzly bear, shoot, shovel and shut up.” When we eliminate the grizzly bear, there won’t be any reason to close the roads.

That kind of talk hurts me because we have lived peacefully with the bears for 40 years. They were protected and every one knew and respected that.

What kind of stress have the agencies put on the 33 bears they trapped, tranquilized and collared, some more than once?

They say they have spent $2.5 million on the grizzly and caribou studies. They trapped 60 caribou in Canada and moved them into Boundary County. At last count, 16 were left.

More than that traveled between Canada and the United States before the transplant operation. Some friends of mine took pictures of 35 on Rock Creek, north of Priest Lake, a few years ago.

Many of us in North Idaho could have suggested lots of worthwhile projects that would have improved our fish and wildlife resources instead of destroying two of them, as well as closing many of our roads and upsetting everyone.

Who benefits from having caribou, grizzly bears and wolves in North Idaho if all of our roads are closed so that only a few hardy souls can hike many miles into the back country to hunt, fish, pick huckleberries, enjoy the scenery or camp in the mountains? That is the main reason many of us live in North Idaho.

xxxx