HELENA — An advocacy group has petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Selway-Bitterroot area of Idaho and Montana.
The Center for Biological Diversity said Thursday that it hopes to revive a stalled recovery plan for the animals that was finalized in 2000.
The group says having bears in the Selway-Bitterroot would help connect grizzlies in Yellowstone National Park with other populations of the animals in Montana and Idaho. It says the 16-million-acre area could support 300 to 600 bears.
An earlier petition from the group called for grizzly recovery across a seven-state area that included the Selway-Bitterroot. Center for Biological Diversity attorney Andrea Santarsiere says the group is considering legal action after that petition was denied in September.