Give a boost to Cabinet grizzlies

The release of a female grizzly bear in the Cabinet Mountains last week was a milestone for common sense.

While there has been much hand-wringing for the last 20 years over the practice of population "augmentation," there has been precious little action. It all boils down to this: Either the public and the government are behind the effort to protect and recover the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear population or they're not.

And if they are, it's almost universally recognized that bringing new bears to extreme Northwest Montana will be one of the most effective ways to do so. It's time to get on with it.

Consider that the discussion over population augmentation started way back before the state adopted a bear management plan in 1986. The proposal naturally raised concerns and questions among many Lincoln County residents. But eventually there was enough support for the state to proceed with a test program that involved transplanting four female grizzly bears from British Columbia to the Cabinet Mountains between 1990 and 1994.

A Lincoln County advisory panel, made up of a diverse array of citizens, has been talking about augmentation ever since.

So has the committee of state and federal land and wildlife managers who are in charge of grizzly bear recovery. All the bear specialists and biologists have long been on the same page, agreeing that adding females could provide a much-needed boost for a population that is on the verge of winking out of existence.

The grizzly bear population in the Cabinets is officially estimated at fewer than 15 bears, and throughout the Cabinet-Yaak recovery area, the population is estimated at fewer than 40 bears.

Some bear conservation groups have raised concerns about the government's course of action, saying there needs to be more study, more public involvement and a more formalized plan.

State officials counter that they have complete authority to move grizzly bears within the state's boundaries, and that includes moving them from the far more populous Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to the Cabinet-Yaak recovery area.

And they point out that there is nothing new or complicated about augmentation: It's been tried and proven in Montana with multiple species, including bighorn sheep, elk, mountain goats, fisher and marten.

For certain, augmentation is something that the government could go too far with. But that's unlikely because of the sheer logistics involved with capturing the right kind of bears.

As part of an ongoing population research project, biologists had been trapping bears all spring and throughout the late summer and early fall before they finally got the bear that was moved to the Cabinets last week. She fit the guidelines calling for young female bears, preferably age 4 to 6, with no history of problems.

State and federal wildlife officials want to move one or two more bears per year, for the next few years, to boost the Cabinet population.

So be it.

If the population is worth saving, this is the best way to do it.