Commissioners Pass Ordinance To Bar Grizzlies Resolve To Take Serious Measures To Keep Bears Out Of Custer County

Custer County Commissioners thumbed their noses at federal law this week, passing an ordinance to block the reintroduction of grizzly bears into the central Idaho wilderness.

Titled the “Unacceptable Species Ordinance,” it condemns any efforts under the federal Endangered Species Act to reintroduce an animal that “is a threat to public safety.” To back it up, commissioners issued a resolution saying they would do anything necessary to keep grizzlies out of Custer County, including killing the federally protected bears.

“We are left with the unenviable and sad task of having to take drastic action, that of Grizzly Bear eradication or removal by any means possible should any Grizzly enter Custer County,” the resolution stated.

The ordinance, approved at a crowded public meeting Tuesday in Challis, signals the county’s official defiance of a plan that ignores local opposition to the bear’s return, said Custer County Commissioner Lin Hintze.

“Damn it, we live here. So we should have the say-so about what happens in our back yard,” he said.

Hintze also expressed hopes that commissioners in surrounding counties would join them. Officials in nearby Salmon passed a similar resolution concerning wolves last December. That resolution authorized law enforcement officials to use any force necessary against federally protected wolves that ventured into town.

“We hope that it might snowball. That maybe the other counties, and maybe, just maybe, people elsewhere in the country will take a look at this,” Hintze said.

The ordinance comes as federal agencies work on the final draft of a study concerning whether grizzly bears should be reintroduced to the Selway-Bitteroot area north of Custer County. An earlier version of the plan proposed reintroducing six to 12 bears into the area over several years, with an eventual population of between 100 and 300.

Federal officials said the ordinance repeated a message they have heard at earlier Custer County meetings: most local residents didn’t want the bears returned. It also casts a shadow over hopes of reaching some agreement with local politicians, said Laird Robinson, a Forest Service representative for the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. The committee is developing the reintroduction plan.

“This doesn’t indicate that our meeting was all that good,” Robinson said, referring to an earlier effort to address the Custer County Commissioners’ concerns.

But in the legal arena, the new resolution could be posturing at best, and puts local officials on a collision course with federal laws.

“As far as local ordinance or anything, the federal Endangered Species Act would take precedence,” said Sharon Rose, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional office in Denver.

Under the act, anyone knowingly killing a protected animal could face up to 6 months in jail and a $25,000 fine.

Custer County Prosecutor Lavon Loynd reviewed the ordinance before commissioners passed it, said Hintze. But he acknowledged it might not stand up in court.

“I suppose when push comes to shove, it’s probably not legal,” he said.

Any test of the ordinance could be years away.

The federal agencies don’t expect to reach a final decision on whether to reintroduce the bears until June or July, said Robinson. If they are transplanted, it could be more than a decade before any bears migrate south to Custer County, he said.