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As it stands now the uber left green groups are at it again, but this time their proposed transplants are a bit closer to home than California or the Grand Canyon. This time they want Grizzlies transplanted into the Bitterroot Selway Wilderness. Yup, if they can’t get them into their entire historic range they will fight for every small piece they can get in order to prevent the Interagency Grizzly Bear Councils recommendation that the bears be delisted.
But are the green groups showing their cards too soon? Why shoot for a lesser goal when you have grander plans? The reality is that proposing a transplant into California of a super predator was never going to fly under the radar like the wolves in Yellowstone. So the strategy is to distract us with a crazy proposal in order to prevent us from seeing the transplant that is much less crazy in grandeur!
Reality is a cruel master and the green groups’ goals have been dealt a serious blow with the proposed delisting. While they were busy protecting their pet project, wolves, the grizzly bear population has expanded faster than expected. To make matters worse for their cause new projects have shown that grizzlies are moving over much larger territories than they want the general population to know. The reality is that these predators are connected from Canada to Yellowstone, and expanding further into southern Wyoming. They may not be moving en masse from one area to another, but they will in the future.
It is time to call a spade a spade. This proposal is a ruse to transplant grizzly bears into an area where they are already present, albeit in smaller numbers than what we have in western Wyoming or southwest Montana. They know they are likely to lose the battle to delist the bears and that means it is time to scramble for any available ploy to keep the animals on the endangered species list.
If you aren’t active in letting your senators know how you feel about this issue, the time has come for you to start. The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is the greatest success story of wildlife management in the United States. In order to keep it we need to be involved and make sure that our representatives know how we feel on the subject.
I used to live in Hamilton & worked in Victor back in the mid 90’s. We already had Grizz in the area & I’m pretty sure they never moved out. Why do we suddenly need more now??
I read a lot on forums about the “green groups” doing this type of thing with both grizzlies and wolves being re-introduced into new areas or increasing the numbers where they are currently located. If a person is to call their senators, who do they speak with? Having never done it I can only assume you will speak with some intern who could most likely care less what I have to say about grizzlies or wolves. There seems to be a lot of organizations for elk, mule deer, sheep, etc., but is there an organization only dedicated to standing up to all these “reintroductions”? It seems like this group would be the one to join so we can keep an eye and ear out on what type of legislation is coming out and what exactly we can do to stop it.
I lived in Alaska for 37 years and as a Master guide I have bumped into my share of Grizzlies, I now live in North Idaho and there are far more Grizzlies in our country than F&G will admit! This country here is very heavily forested and there are are no natural parks, just old clear cuts so like South Eastern Alaska you don’t see them until you bump into them and take it from someone that has been chewed on by one that is darn dangerous! We need to be hunting these bears!
Brent
Fundamentally, I disagree. Getting a stable population of the bears in the Selway-Bitterroot has been proposed and discussed since the 70’s. They are there, but not in appreciable numbers. The idea (easily since the 1980’s) has been to subsidize the genetics.
Regardless, no offense Guy, but who brought up California? To presume someone else’s intent, particularly a large bureaucratic non-profit, is misleading and emotional. I haven’t heard of anyone proposing griz in California. I focus on what people say and do. Speculation is a waste of time and energy.
Likewise, I see no reason that the Selway-Bitterroot population could not be declared “experimental non-essential” which would allow the Yellowstone population to be delisted and the Bitterroot population to be still listed with greater flexibility of management.
Yes, recovery goals have been achieved and the bear is likely to be delisted in the GYE. Yes, some environmental organizations are going to fight it. But we all have a say, and communicating with your congressional delegation is a good idea. Simply write or email your senator and congressman. Sure, you will get a staff person, but my experience is that your message will be communicated in one form or another to the representative. Of course, if you donate a big wad of cash, I’m sure it helps. So far I simply follow the lines of communication and hope for the best. I do have to go to work and have limited time.
But we are likely to see courts of law make determinations. Using the courts to decide how our common public lands are managed is simply wrong. Having politicians decide how our public lands and wildlife resources should be managed is also wrong.
I do believe that the biggest pill for the non-hunting public to swallow will be grizzly hunting. State management plans will be required to address this of course. This will be the post-delisting opportunity for you to comment on how bears will be managed at the state level. Unfortunately, hunting griz will ultimately result in bad media coverage for hunters. Like all our environmental/land management issues it will be complex and not perfect.
The North American Model of Wildlife Management is the greatest conservation success story for all of North America. I don’t see this as a threat to the model.
very good points. I agree. thanks
There, but not in appreciable numbers. That’s a pretty subjective statement to make. I mean how many does it take for them to be appreciated, & by who? Fact is they are already there, & in numbers that most of us find to be overly appreciated.
What? Has nobody learned from the ‘wolf experiment’ that transplanting predators is not a good Idea? Who are these Greenies? And what is their agenda? Do they actually believe that transplanting Grizzlies is good husbandry? It just boggles the mind. Look, the wolves are devastating the cattle/sheep and elk herds here in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We were doing fine without them, but now we have to contend with ’em. The same will happen with Grizzlies. When they find out cows are much easier to catch than elk calves and deer fawns…look out. I say, leave nature be…she knows what’s best and Grizzlies ain’t it. Just sayin…
They’re already here, one was accidentally killed over on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in the Kelley Creek drainage in 2007, smack in the middle of the Clearwater National forest. Just Google grizzly and Kelley Creek and read all about it. I also have seen one with my own eyes several years ago in Hells Canyon above the Snake River. There are not many around, but there are a few, and that’s plenty. We have enough cougars, black bears and wolves close to town and in peoples yards without needing grizzlies as well…They aren’t a species that is even remotely close to extinction, plenty of them in places more suitable and safer for them and us……
I got you, Robert. I hunted for years in Southern Idaho [Idaho Falls area] and saw grizzlies several times. Now I hunt in Central Idaho [Boise area] and see them in the Salmon River areas. True, there aren’t very many, but that’s just fine. They’re there and that should be enough. We don’t need more. Wolves have devastated the Selway and Middle Fork of the Salmon areas. Let’s keep a few elk and deer around to keep us hunters happy, okay?
“problem” bears from the park were put in the Pioneers in the 90’s… and I’ve seen them in the Centennials as well. Well past needing to be protected other than by those who make a living keeping them there.
I live in south central Montana….. And we have to sort them out when we are black bear hunting in the spring now…..they are in our foothills….not just the Beartooth front and already causing trouble….endangered…….not in Montana!!!!
Hope the greenies are happy when the elk and deer are on the endangered species list and we are all forced to eat out of the grocery store. Seems like that is the direction it is headed. Call me old fashion but I think the wolves and grizzlies should all be snubbed from montana, idaho, and Wyoming. Sure they can stay in the parks, but if they step outside the park or cross the Canadian border, they should be shot. Or maybe they should just transplant them into the cities for these out of state SOB GREENIES to enjoy eating all their pets. I don’t want to have to be looking over my shoulder every 2 minutes for a hungry bear while I’m out chasing the endangered elk. The wolves have already devastated enough of our elk and deer. When these predators get to a certain point, it’s going to go back to the same solution. The strick 9 and any means possible predator eradication like it has been done in the past. It worked before and I hope it happens again. I just wish that each and every hunting, fishing, trapping, and outdoor group could unite and fight these environmentalists together on every stupid proposal they bring up. Sorry, I get a little heated when people try to change our environment for the worse. Also don’t bother leaving me a bashing comment either. I will not bicker back and forth about who is right or wrong.
It comes down to the basics, do you protect elk, deer, or wolves and grizzlies? You can’t have both without managing the predators. Unmanaged they will kill everything until there is no more food for them to eat. Then mother nature will take over and erraticate the predators through disease. The problem is it takes years for the cycle to recover. Elk and deer numbers will rebound, but not in my lifetime, hopefully in my kids lifetime. The environmentalist veiws are contridictory of what life is more important, the hundreds of elk and deer or the few predators? I don’t get their agenda to sacrifice elk and deer at the expense of saving predators that are already at numbers to sustain. It’s fact that what is going on in many states not only the western states is a direct result of these organizations lobbying for laws that they really don’t understand the natural inballance created between prey and predators. We as sportsmen and women need to wake up and form a union to stop this madness.