If it survives beyond being a cub, and stays away from people, a grizzly bear can live a quarter-century.
The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee has already been tracking bears that long, and this week laid out plans for five more years.
The confederation of state, federal and international agencies wrapped up its semiannual meeting in Missoula on Wednesday. In addition to setting out goals and priorities for bear management and policymaking, the members got updates on the grizzly's scientific and legal developments.
"We're trying to recover the bear," said Chris Servheen, a University of Montana biologist and coordinator of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly efforts. "That's our objective under the law - to get them off the threatened species list."
That effort hit a setback last year when U.S. District Judge Don Molloy rejected a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan to delist grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Nevertheless, the committee continues to craft land management ideas intended to help the big predator thrive alongside growing human development.
More than 1,000 grizzlies live along the Continental Divide and the Greater Yellowstone ecosystems. Much smaller populations can be found in the Cabinet and Yaak mountains of Montana, and the Selkirks of northern Idaho. One goal in the draft five-year plan is to launch an environmental impact study of reintroducing grizzlies in the North Cascades of Washington.
"That would need a lot of public involvement and engagement," said Washington Fish and Wildlife representative Dave Brittell, the committee's incoming chairman. "We haven't done any of that yet in the North Cascades. But the draft plan says yes, an EIS should happen in the North Cascades."
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Just as they wander across state and international boundaries, grizzly bears pay little attention to agency jurisdictions. The committee exists to adapt those agencies to the bear.
For example, firefighting might seem to have little to do with grizzly bears. But the way a fire camp is placed and how its residents handle their trash can have a big effect on area grizzlies. Poor food management can result in trash-habituated bears long after the camp has been struck. And the way fire crews mop up a defensive line can help or hinder regrowth of huckleberries and other bear fodder.
In addition to pooling research from lots of different programs, the committee tries to refine the education and outreach messages that local agencies spread about bears. It explores best practices for backcountry food storage and compares respective state guidelines. Montana's requirement that black bear hunters pass a bear species identification test was drawing interest from Idaho wildlife managers.
The draft plan should be completed in a few weeks. It will be posted on the committee's Web site, www.igbconline.org.
"The committee isn't a board or a decision-making body," Brittell said. "It doesn't say. 'Now we shall do this.' But when I go back to Washington and the budget comes up, I know what's important to the committee and to the bears."
Related story: Grizzlies in the Bitterroot Mountains politically thorny, by ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian, January 17, 2010 see story
Related story: Biologist predicts grizzly bears' removal from endangered list, by Chris Peterson, Hungry Horse News, January 20th, 2010 see story
Related story: Grizzlies home on range - again, By Karl Puckett• Tribune Staff Writer • January 21, 2010 see story
