Chuck Neal of Cody, Wyo., is a retired U.S. Department of Interior ecologist and author of "Grizzlies in the Mist," based on his 40 years of work in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem..........Like many other biologists not associated with the current analysis of the Greater Yellowstone Grizzly population, Neal believes that there is flawed methodology at play that will end up "jumping" the population estimates so as to justify federal delisting and stringent state killing seasons for the Bear..........Measurement of the population from the air shows bear movement but not necessarily accurate numbers count..................On top of that , the 500 animals targeted population for Yellowstone Park is much too small to maintain the genetic diversity needed for a viable, self-sustaining bear population, to say nothing of being inadequate to counter the demographic, environmental and catastrophic uncertainties that constitute life in the natural world........................A truly recovered self-sustaining population will require occupation of all biologically suitable contiguous habitat in the US northern rocky mountains................... There are vast areas of such habitat that are being excluded by FWS as part of the monitoring area — the Wyoming Range, Wind River Range, Salt River Range, Gravelly Range, Centennial Range, and Snowcrest Range. In addition, the Centennial Range, Snowcrest Range, and Gravelly Range serve as absolutely critical portions of the essential linkage zones between the GYE and reestablished grizzly populations in the central Idaho wildlands which will be required for true recovery.................... These essential linkage zones will provide the necessary connection to other grizzly bear sub-populations (such as Northern Continental Divide and reestablished Central Idaho wildlands sub-populations) to form one secure, viable, self-sustaining meta-population fulfilling their ancient ecological role in the ecosystems of the U.S. Northern Rockies

Guest opinion: Yellowstone grizzlies need more room to recover1

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Proposals for delisting grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are being revised.

Chuck Neal;billingsgazette.com

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a new method to estimate grizzly bear population size which they believe will produce higher numbers which in turn will make it easier to justify removing the grizzly from the Endangered Species Act listing.

The agency argues that dramatically increased time spent observing bears from the air on open alpine landscapes producing more bear sightings has to mean more bears. Yet taking the agency's own data and correcting the bias produced by increased search effort and greater use by the bears on the alpine "moth fields" shows that there has little to no growth and even possibly some reduction in numbers since 2003.

The FWS proposes to maintain a minimum population size of 500 animals and at least 48 females with cubs of year within Yellowstone National Park and immediately adjacent National Forests. Bears that roam outside that monitoring area could be killed and their deaths would not count against the minimum population size committed to by the agencies. This decision alone guarantees that a fully recovered grizzly bear population will never occur. A population of only 500 animals is much too small to maintain the genetic diversity needed for a viable, self-sustaining bear population, to say nothing of being inadequate to counter the demographic, environmental and catastrophic uncertainties that constitute life in the natural world.

The agencies actually recognize this by proposing human-assisted translocations of individual bears from other ecosystems on occasion but this in itself denies that recovery has actually taken place as defined in the ESA. This much-too-timid population-size goal combined with the loss of key bear foods (such as whitebark pine nuts and cutthroat trout) and continuing restriction to an island refuge (the core of the GYE) assures that Recovery can not occur.

A truly recovered self-sustaining population will require occupation of all biologically suitable contiguous habitat in the US northern rocky mountains. There are vast areas of such habitat that are being excluded by FWS as part of the monitoring area — the Wyoming Range, Wind River Range, Salt River Range, Gravelly Range, Centennial Range, and Snowcrest Range. In addition, the Centennial Range, Snowcrest Range, and Gravelly Range serve as absolutely critical portions of the essential linkage zones between the GYE and reestablished grizzly populations in the central Idaho wildlands which will be required for true recovery. These essential linkage zones will provide the necessary connection to other grizzly bear sub-populations (such as Northern Continental Divide and reestablished Central Idaho wildlands sub-populations) to form one secure, viable, self-sustaining meta-population fulfilling their ancient ecological role in the ecosystems of the U.S. Northern Rockies.

The grizzly bear is an intelligent and adaptable species able to make a living in a variety of habitats. But we must give them the room to do so. To watch habitat quality decline in the core of GYE as it is doing and will continue to do under the predicted global climate change and at the same time restrict the bears to the immediate environs of YNP is asking too much of even such an adaptable species as the grizzly.

We have hundreds of thousands of acres of suitable habitat for grizzly bears now devoid of the bears that were historically there. These are public lands dominated by private livestock at the expense of public wildlife. True recovery of the grizzly bear is within reach and now is no time for timid half-measures euphemistically called recovery.

Chuck Neal of Cody, Wyo., is a retired U.S. Department of Interior ecologist and author of "Grizzlies in the Mist," based on his 40 years of work in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.