Yellowstone Grizzlies: Numbers rise, but threats loom
What's Happening: Yellowstone's grizzly bears reached a milestone in 2010 with more than 600 now roaming the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, according to a recent survey from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. This is highest number of grizzlies in the region in close to 30 years. But with the recovering grizzly bear population and limited habitat, grizzly bears are moving into new habitats at lower elevations, or attempting to disperse to other ideal habitats not currently occupied by grizzlies – such as central Idaho. Bears on the move sometimes enter communities looking for food for winter hibernation sustenance, leading to increased human-bear conflict. GYC was launched in 1983 in large part to protect grizzlies, and we are still working hard, with the support of our membership, to protect this iconic species.
Here's why, even with the species protected, it's still threatened: By the end of October 2010, 48 bears in Greater Yellowstone had died or were moved to zoos — equaling the previous record set just in 2008. Most of the mortalities are the result of conflicts with humans – bears killing livestock or frequenting homes and campsites for food, or being killed in encounters with deer and elk hunters in the fall. For example, a grizzly bear was euthanized in October after raiding the town dump at Gardiner, Montana, while hunters in northwest Wyoming killed several grizzlies during surprise encounters while elk hunting this fall.
These stories underscore the need for continued Endangered Species Act protections. Bears are faced with new challenges in Greater Yellowstone due to the rapid disappearance of whitebark pine throughout the region. Protecting grizzly bears means making more bear habitat available to bears – like protecting the wildlife corridor across Montana's High Divide west of Yellowstone National Park, continuing education about appropriate food storage, carrying bear spray, installing bear-proof garbage bins in communities that need them, and generally respecting the bear's place in the wild. On a positive note, in Island Park, Idaho, where GYC has been part of a successful residential bear-bin improvement project over the past three years, there have been zero reported conflicts between bears and humans.
Protections Restored: In late 2009, because of a lawsuit filed by GYC, federal judge Donald Malloy restored Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears. The judge said the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's grizzly plan did not provide strong enough habitat standards and failed to address additional protections in the event of a decline in food sources due to climate change. Of particular concern is the whitebark pine, whose nuts sustain grizzlies through their long hibernation. Recent studies show that Greater Yellowstone has lost 85 percent of its whitebark pines because warmer winters have allowed mountain pine beetles to expand their range into higher elevations and attack the whitebark pines in an unprecedented ecological disturbance.
Protections Threatened: In August 2010, the federal government appealed GYC's court victory restoring Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears. The government's argument is that bears are omnivores and will explore new habitat to find replacement food sources for the loss of whitebark pine. We fear that this need to forage farther afield – beyond the secure wildlands in the heart of Yellowstone National Park and the Absaroka Mountains – brings bears into a much larger conflict with humans, resulting in captures and removals of problem bears, many of which are first offenders. Coupled with the current decline of whitebark pine seed crops associated with climate change, bears have also lost spawning cutthroat trout populations over the past decade in Yellowstone Lake because of invasive lake trout. (The voracious lake trout prey on cutthroats and have devastated native cutthroat populations.)
The Issue: Nearly driven to extinction in Greater Yellowstone in the 1970s by logging in prime habitat and the closure of garbage dumps in Yellowstone, grizzly bears have rebounded to a population of around 600. They were removed from Endangered Species Act protections in 2007, but in the following two years grizzly mortality rose alarmingly largely due to conflicts with humans. Bear mortality dropped in 2009, but concerns remain. Their future is still precarious because of habitat issues and a potential decline in food sources due to climate change.
Our Mission: To keep grizzlies protected until their habitat and numbers are secure enough for them to be off the endangered species list. This means an adequate plan for protection of their food sources and expanded habitat as well as the continuing education of the public about bear safety and the key role grizzlies play at the top of a thriving ecosystem.
Here's why, even with the species protected, it's still threatened: By the end of October 2010, 48 bears in Greater Yellowstone had died or were moved to zoos — equaling the previous record set just in 2008. Most of the mortalities are the result of conflicts with humans – bears killing livestock or frequenting homes and campsites for food, or being killed in encounters with deer and elk hunters in the fall. For example, a grizzly bear was euthanized in October after raiding the town dump at Gardiner, Montana, while hunters in northwest Wyoming killed several grizzlies during surprise encounters while elk hunting this fall.
These stories underscore the need for continued Endangered Species Act protections. Bears are faced with new challenges in Greater Yellowstone due to the rapid disappearance of whitebark pine throughout the region. Protecting grizzly bears means making more bear habitat available to bears – like protecting the wildlife corridor across Montana's High Divide west of Yellowstone National Park, continuing education about appropriate food storage, carrying bear spray, installing bear-proof garbage bins in communities that need them, and generally respecting the bear's place in the wild. On a positive note, in Island Park, Idaho, where GYC has been part of a successful residential bear-bin improvement project over the past three years, there have been zero reported conflicts between bears and humans.
Protections Restored: In late 2009, because of a lawsuit filed by GYC, federal judge Donald Malloy restored Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears. The judge said the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's grizzly plan did not provide strong enough habitat standards and failed to address additional protections in the event of a decline in food sources due to climate change. Of particular concern is the whitebark pine, whose nuts sustain grizzlies through their long hibernation. Recent studies show that Greater Yellowstone has lost 85 percent of its whitebark pines because warmer winters have allowed mountain pine beetles to expand their range into higher elevations and attack the whitebark pines in an unprecedented ecological disturbance.
Protections Threatened: In August 2010, the federal government appealed GYC's court victory restoring Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears. The government's argument is that bears are omnivores and will explore new habitat to find replacement food sources for the loss of whitebark pine. We fear that this need to forage farther afield – beyond the secure wildlands in the heart of Yellowstone National Park and the Absaroka Mountains – brings bears into a much larger conflict with humans, resulting in captures and removals of problem bears, many of which are first offenders. Coupled with the current decline of whitebark pine seed crops associated with climate change, bears have also lost spawning cutthroat trout populations over the past decade in Yellowstone Lake because of invasive lake trout. (The voracious lake trout prey on cutthroats and have devastated native cutthroat populations.)
The Issue: Nearly driven to extinction in Greater Yellowstone in the 1970s by logging in prime habitat and the closure of garbage dumps in Yellowstone, grizzly bears have rebounded to a population of around 600. They were removed from Endangered Species Act protections in 2007, but in the following two years grizzly mortality rose alarmingly largely due to conflicts with humans. Bear mortality dropped in 2009, but concerns remain. Their future is still precarious because of habitat issues and a potential decline in food sources due to climate change.
Our Mission: To keep grizzlies protected until their habitat and numbers are secure enough for them to be off the endangered species list. This means an adequate plan for protection of their food sources and expanded habitat as well as the continuing education of the public about bear safety and the key role grizzlies play at the top of a thriving ecosystem.
OVERVIEW
- Yellowstone grizzly bears were re-listed as a protected species under the Endangered Species Act (September 2009) because of the potential impacts of climate change on critical bear food sources like whitebark pine.
- An estimated 125 grizzly bears died in Greater Yellowstone in years 2008-2010. 75% of these mortalities are human caused, associated with hunting, livestock depradations, or property damage.
- The chances of being injured by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park are about 1 in 1.9 million.
- Recognizing that "a fed bear is a dead bear," GYC is helping to purchase bear-proof bins for Island Park, Idaho, to avoid habituating bears to human food. One measure of the program's success is the lack of any removals or captures of bears for conflicts with humans during 2010. Learn more about this program.
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