Grizzly Committee wraps up its work

Gov. Steve Bullock’s Grizzly Bear Advisory Council met for the final time last week, massaging the language of a final draft of recommendations on how to manage the iconic creature if they are delisted from the Endangered Species Act in Montana. “The Grizzly Bear Advisory Council was charged with developing citizen recommendations for fundamental guidance and direction on key issues and challenges related to the conservation and management of grizzly bears in Montana, particularly those issues on which there is significant social disagreement,” the document’s preamble notes. While the council reached consensus on most of the document, they did not all agree on whether Montana should ever hunt grizzly bears or use hunting as a management tool. Fifteen of 18 members of the panel agreed that hunting was appropriate, but three dissented in the end. But even those that advocated for hunting caution the hunt should be limited in scope and size.

For example, “Female grizzly bears with dependent young, as well as dependent young, should be protected from hunter harvest,” the document notes. In addition, grizzly bears, “cannot be killed when more than one bear is present.” A season should also have a “dynamic season closure prior to tag delivery based on static population levels.”

In other words, tags could be suspended if population levels drop.

The committee viewed grizzly bear hunting as a once-in-a-lifetime event.

“Hunting should be limited and follow the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Grizzly bear license fees should be modeled on moose, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats, with the non-refundable drawing fee going to grizzly bear management and conservation,” it states.

But hunting aside, the document focuses on education and living with bears in the future. For example, the document encourages potential closures if need be. For example, if a trail has a lot of grizzly bear activity, it should see a temporary closure, much like what the Park Service already does. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks should “Encourage temporary trail closures and limit special use permits in areas with critical habitat conditions during appropriate times of year,” the document suggests. FWP should also do more to promote carrying bear spray while recreating in bear country.

It also strongly suggests more work be done with securing garbage and other attractants from bears

and a greater effort in working with local governments to enforce sanitation guidelines, like bear-resistant garbage containers.

It also says the state should examine the economic benefits of bears.

Chuck Roady, vice president and general manager at F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber in Columbia Falls was on the panel. He noted it was a very diverse group and the final document was an important step in the future of bear management. “We worked our guts out,” he said of the document.

The committee met for hours on end, sometimes in all-day sessions via Zoom teleconferencing.

Roady said he supported limited hunting.

“Biologists need it as a tool,” he said. Roady has spent most of his life dealing with grizzlies on Stoltze lands. There have been three close encounters in recent years, with injuries. One hunter was mauled by a grizzly on Stoltze lands and others have been injured as well.

Liability is always a concern, he noted.

He noted that some areas of the state are seeing 7 to 8 percent growth rates. But having said that, Roady said it’s important to let bears take their course. They’re going to go where they want to and expand where they want to. They’re a remarkable animal. “Let the bears do what they do,” he said. “That’s (my) philosophy. Let’s don’t push it.”

The committee will present its final recommendations to the governor on Sept. 1.