Male grizzly moved to Cabinets

Another grizzly bear has been captured in the Whitefish Mountain Range and moved to the West Cabinet Mountains south of Troy, but this time it was a male bear.

A project aimed at augmenting the fragile Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear population has been under way for several years, with five females being relocated from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to the Cabinet Mountains.

Kim Amis, a Libby-area grizzly bear management specialist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the decision to move a male bear has long been considered necessary to maintain genetic diversity in a population that’s estimated to be no more than 40 bears.

She said there moving female bears first was important; otherwise far-roaming males bears would be less likely to stick around their new territory.

“The timing was right,” Annis said, and the bear that was captured in the Coal Creek drainage of the Whitefish Mountain Range on July 17 met all the criteria for the augmentation project.

“We are very particular about getting a bear in good condition and with no history of conflict with humans,” she said.

The 249-pound bear, estimated to be around 4 years old, was fitted with a special radio collar and moved to the Hiatt Creek drainage above Spar Lake in the West Cabinet Mountains on Saturday evening.

Annis said contract trappers are looking for another suitable female to move to the Cabinets this year.

The augmentation project was started in the early 1990s with bears that came from Canada. There was a hiatus, and efforts resumed in 2005, focusing on grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, that encompasses Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and surrounding lands.

One female bear was relocated in 2005, followed by another in 2006. Both lost their radio collars after three years and haven’t been detected since, but they are still presumed to be alive, Annis said.

In 2007, a suitable bear could not be trapped.

In 2008, two female bears were captured and relocated to the West Cabinets. Both of them died several months later on the same day — one was struck and killed by a train and the other was shot by a landowner after he encountered it getting into his garbage.

Last year, an 8- to-10-year-old female bear was moved to the West Cabinets. But that bear’s radio-collar signal has been lost, meaning the collar either failed or she has moved far out of the area. It is believed she is still alive because collars emit a “mortality signal” if bears stop moving for a certain period.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.