Montana wildlife officials have endorsed a plan to manage Northwest Montana’s grizzly bear population at a minimum threshold of 800 bears, but said a higher target of roughly 1,000 bears would provide a more sustainable buffer.
The proposal, adopted by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission Aug. 9, sets mortality targets in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE), a sprawling region situated in Northwest Montana, which includes Glacier National Park, portions of the Flathead and Blackfeet Indian reservations, parts of five national forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, as well as state and private lands.
In a preliminary vote, state wildlife officials adopted the population target as part of its conservation strategy to balance the competing interests of conservation groups calling for more habitat connectivity between segmented grizzly populations and landowners pushing for the removal of grizzlies from federal Endangered Species Act protections.
Grizzly bears in the NCDE are still federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, though their population has met recovery goals outlined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. To delist grizzlies in the NCDE, regulations must be in place to ensure they will not once again become threatened or endangered.
“Going forward there is going to be a lot of tough conversations that have to occur, and it’s really important to understand how these bears affect these landowners,” Fish and Wildlife Commission Chairman Dan Vermillion said. “Otherwise we’re missing a critical piece of the puzzle. This is the beginning of the process, and once the state takes over this management it is going to be up to us to create a natural habitat and a social habitat that allows these bears to survive and thrive. It is going to take all of us working together.”
The section of the conservation strategy that commissioners considered, Chapter 2, sets standards for how grizzlies are counted and their population is monitored. It also sets the population thresholds and pledges to work to link population segments.
The strategy’s Chapter 2 lays out three objectives — it seeks to maintain a minimum threshold of 800 grizzlies across the NCDE’s 8 million-acre core area; it sets mortality triggers that prompt the state to take action, including mortalities that are the result of conflicts, vehicle collisions, hunting deaths, and incidental removals from the population, such as when orphaned cubs are sent to zoos after the death of a sow; and it aims to connect NCDE grizzlies with those from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
Cecily Costello, a grizzly bear biologist with FWP responsible for much of the monitoring and science included in the strategy, said the NCDE grizzly population is healthy and robust at an estimated 1,000 bears, while survival rates for females is well above the threshold, and mortality rates for females and males is well below the threshold.
Proponents of the strategy included representatives of conservation groups, but many advocates of long-term grizzly protection said the strategy should do more.
Brian Peck, an independent wildlife consultant in Columbia Falls, said setting the population threshold at a minimum of 800 bears is effectively a “sanctioned 20 percent decline.”
“You hold the aces to ensure that the conservation strategy follows the science and obeys the law. And that’s something the current document doesn’t do,” Peck told commissioners. “If you had $1,000 in the bank and you went to withdraw it and they only gave you $800, you would be looking for another bank.”
FWP Wildlife Chief Ken McDonald said the preliminary vote sets into motion a months-long rulemaking process.
After registering the proposal with the Montana Secretary of State on Aug. 14, a public comment period will open Aug. 24 and fun for 60 days, until Oct. 24. Four public hearings will occur between the end of September and early October.
After the end of the public comment period, FWP will incorporate those comments and return them to the commission at its December meeting for final approval. The strategy would then be filed again with the Secretary of State on Dec. 11 and the rule would go into effect Dec. 21.
If and when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes delisting, likely in early winter, it would trigger a federal rule-making process and another opportunity for public comment.
Unlike the grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, McDonald said there is no hunting proposal for the NCDE grizzly population at this time.
“We’re not looking at that with the NCDE. That would be sometime down the road if the department and the commission decide to go there,” he said. “Under these mortality thresholds, if there was hunting, that would be an additional mortality figure to fit within those thresholds. The sideboards are the limits.”
Glen Hockett, volunteer president of the Gallatin Wildlife Association, encouraged the strategy to ensure habitat connectivity before the government proceeds with delisting, and to include the input of tribal leaders.
Managing for more than 800 bears in the Demographic Monitoring Area sets a higher probability that the population will persist for 100 years or more.
“We are managing right on the edge of the extinction vortex,” he said. “And I hope we don’t lose track of that.”
Prior to the vote, Chairman Vermillion praised the plan as a comprehensive document based in sound science, and said strong state management gives Montana residents the most flexibility in how officials manage the species.
“I support this. I think we do need to have a conservation strategy and I think we do need to delist so we can better manage,” he said. “We are pretty good at doing these things. This department is filled with some great, great people who continuously set the standard for local communications with the communities.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story attributed a quote from independent wildlife consultant Brian Peck to Swan View Coalition director Keith Hammer.