Panel Backs Grizzly Project Citizens Group May Get Control Over Reintroduction Of Bears

A majority of the Idaho grizzly management oversight committee backs a proposal to reintroduce bears into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness under the control of a citizens panel.

“I think it would truly make it an Idaho project, with the folks from Montana who are affected by recovery,” said committee co-chairwoman Cindy Siddoway of Mud Lake on Friday.

Under the plan, which is backed by three timber industry and two conservation groups, bears would be reintroduced in the wilderness as a non-essential experimental population.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly recovery coordinator Chris Servheen said agency officials are leaning toward the proposal.

But he said they have not picked a preferred alternative in the draft environmental impact statement, which is expected to be released in April.

“We are very interested in this option, extremely,” Servheen told the Idaho House and Senate resource committees.

The citizen committee would decide what happens when there are conflicts between bears and livestock or outdoorsmen, as well as setting the recovery goal for the bears, Servheen said.

“They really have the car keys,” he said.

The panel also would document conflicts with bears to make recommendations to federal agencies such as the Forest Service.

Seth Diamond of the Intermountain Forest Industry Association said there would be no new restrictions on land management and human activities under the proposal.

Gov. Phil Batt and Attorney General Al Lance have appealed to the state’s congressional delegation for help to stop the bear reintroduction.

Their presence in north-central Idaho raises the possibility that a variety of land uses will be limited, Lance said.

“Most fundamentally, grizzly bear reintroduction will present an unnecessary risk to the personal safety of many Idaho citizens. This is completely unacceptable.”

Lance predicted grizzly reintroduction will exceed wolf recovery as far as possible conflict. One wolf has been shot in Idaho after two years of Canadian transplants.

Diamond said grizzlies would be released in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness under the plan.

The management area also would include The Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

The experimental population area is larger to keep the citizens committee in control, he said.

Siddoway said the oversight committee will hold public hearings in McCall, Salmon and Challis after the draft environmental impact statement is released.

“Up to date, we really haven’t had the dialogue with the folks and it’s important,” she said.