Montana releases final grizzly management plan; includes hunting

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently released its final environmental impact statement for managing grizzly bears should they be delisted by the federal government from the Endangered Species Act.

The plan, among other things, allows for hunting of grizzly bears with caveats. In the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, for example, “hunting would cease if the probability that the grizzly bear population remains above 800 within the Demographic Monitoring Area falls below 90% and would not resume until the probability is 90% or greater that the population of bears would remain above 800.”

In other words, if there’s a chance the grizzly bears population in the 8-million acre NCDE (which includes Glacier National Park, where no hunting is allowed already) could fall below the 800-bear threshold, then no hunting would be allowed.

In addition, “FWP shall manage any delisted grizzly bear population for at least five years from the time of delisting prior to proposing any hunting season for delisted grizzly bears,” it says, though the FWP commission, a board appointed by the governor that has a broad say in hunting and fishing regulations in the state, could potentially change that timeline.

FWP’s goal is to manage the NCDE for at least 800 bears, which it claims, means that in effect, it’s actually assuring there will be about 950 to 1,000 bears.

“In the NCDE, FWP would continue to manage mortalities from all sources to support an estimated 90% probability the grizzly bear population within the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Demographic Monitoring Area remains above 800 bears. Achieving this level of probability translates to about 1,000 bears, at least,” the agency claims in the EIS.

All mortalities would include accidental deaths, poaching, management deaths and other mortalities, in addition to a hunting season.

Managing bears in other areas, like the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, where there’s about 1 million acres of grizzly bear habitat, but far fewer bears, are far more modest.

In the Cabinet Yaak, it would look to maintain six females with cubs over a running 6−year average both within the recovery zone and within a 10−mile area immediately surrounding it. In addition, known, human−caused mortality (should) not exceed 4% of the population estimate based on the most recent three−year sum of females with cubs, of which no more than 30% shall be females.

In the Bitterroot ecosystem, another huge land mass that is prime grizzly habitat with few bears, the objective is “14 females with cubs over a running 6−year average, and ... after at least 90 grizzly bears are established, a mortality limit (known, human−based deaths) of no more than 4% of a minimum population size estimate, with no more than 30% of that being females.”

Having said that, the document also acknowledges that bears are going to be in other areas and in places where they might not be expected.

That’s happened more and more east of the divide, as grizzlies have greatly expanded their range to the prairies.

The idea is to establish some connectivity between ecosystems, but that is complicated greatly by roads and human development.

This summer, FWP trucked some bears from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem down to Greater Yellowstone, in the hopes that the released bears would help with genetic diversity.

A federal court ruling in 2018 said there needed to be more genetic connectivity between populations before bears could be taken off the Endangered Species List.

The EIS calls for moving more bears over the years from the NCDE to Greater Yellowstone.

Still, the EIS has tempered its view a bit toward wayward bears.

“Where grizzly bear expansion does not contribute to connectivity, FWP would have lower tolerance for grizzly bears causing conflicts, although FWP would not proactively remove bears that are conflict free,” the EIS notes.

Having said that, the EIS does not call for grizzlies in eastern Montana. It only looks at 30 counties on the west side of the state, which have millions of acres of federal lands.

“Grizzly bear presence would not be an objective in areas where connectivity between populations is not relevant or likely,” the EIS states.

Hunting of grizzly bears continues to see a mixed bag of comments.

“Results from a 2020 survey of Montanans regarding the topic of grizzly bear management in Montana found a sizable majority of Montanans supported some form of potential grizzly bear hunting: 49 percent supported enough hunting to manage grizzly bear population size; 30 percent supported a very limited season that does not affect their population size; and, four percent supported as much grizzly bear hunting as possible.

“Seventeen percent responded that grizzly bears should never be hunted in Montana. A majority (61 percent) agreed or strongly agreed that people should have the opportunity to hunt grizzly bears as long as populations can withstand the pressure, whereas 24 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed with this notion.

“Views were more mixed for other questions related to hunting grizzly bears. When asked if hunting should be used as a tool to reduce conflict, 46 percent agreed or strongly agreed, and 36 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed. When asked if hunting would make grizzly bears more wary of humans, 39 percent agreed or strongly agreed, while 32 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed,” the EIS said.

Delisting grizzly bears has been an issue for both the Democratic and Republican parties over the years, with both sides saying at one point or another that bears should be taken off the Endangered Species List.