Grizzly hearing focuses on managing delisted bear

Opinions at the grizzly bear-focused public hearing Thursday night ranged about as far and wide as the bruin itself.

Some speakers said federal and state wildlife officials should do more to protect grizzlies and increase their numbers in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and their connectivity with other populations of the threatened species.

Keith Hammer, chairman of the Swan View Coalition, and others balked at a management plan that would set a minimum population target in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem of 800 bears.

According to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, recent estimates suggest about 1,047 grizzly bears currently roam across more than 6 million wilderness and non-wilderness acres in this ecosystem of western Montana.

In turn, a few speakers said the time has come to start hunting the bears.

Ben Schaeffer, a resident of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County who said he is attending school in the Flathead Valley, said a hunt makes sense.

“People would pay thousands of dollars to hunt these animals,” money that could help fund bear research, he said.

Schaeffer said a hunt could make the bears fear man in the way black bears do.

The meeting’s setting was Flathead Valley Community College. The context was a hearing held by Fish, Wildlife and Parks to solicit formal public comment, on behalf of the state Fish and Wildlife Commission, about a rule that would guide grizzly-bear management if the animal in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem is delisted as a threatened species.

That ecosystem includes Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness, portions of the Flathead and Blackfeet Indian reservations, parts of five national forests, Bureau of Land Management Lands and state and private lands.

About 60 people, including staff from Fish, Wildlife and Parks, attending the hearing.

If the grizzly is delisted in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife would back away from being the bear’s overseer and state management would be paramount, said Bill Schenk, a FWP lawyer.

And that reality pushed the state, other agencies and regional Indian nations to develop a grizzly bear recovery plan and the rule that would codify its strategies and targets.

During the public hearing, Brian Peck of Columbia Falls said the conservation strategy and rule ignore a previous federal court decision that concluded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could not base claims of a recovered species on population numbers, trends or occupancy of “bear management units.”

“If FWP continues to head off this population and occupancy cliff with the Fish and Wildlife Service — the same one FWS just ran off in Yellowstone — it won’t lead to recovery; it won’t lead to delisting; and it won’t lead to Montana regaining state control,” Peck said.

The focus should be the quality and quantity of habitat that would support and maintain grizzly bear populations, he said.

On Monday, a federal judge restored Endangered Species Act status for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of grizzly bears. In 1975, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had listed grizzly bears in the Lower 48 as a threatened species. In June 2017, the service dropped the Greater Yellowstone population from its list of threatened species after concluding the bear was “recovered.”

U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen’s ruling noted concerns that the Yellowstone ecosystem’s population faces threats from a lack of genetic diversity.

Meanwhile, speaker John Fuller said it seems grizzly bear survival has become more important than human lives. He said the sale of a dozen grizzly tags for hunters could help finance Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He said he hopes the grizzly is delisted.

Allen Chrisman said his family is proud to help provide quality grizzly habitat in an area a few miles south of the Canadian border. He said he believes the bear has bounced back and that hunting might ultimately serve the species’ recovery.

Before the meeting, Linnaea Schroeer of FWP said members of the Fish and Wildlife Commission will review the public comments gathered during four public hearings held since Sept. 18. She said she anticipates the commission will make a decision about the rule in December.

Reporter Duncan Adams may be reached at dadams@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4407.