Colorado would be an important next stop for Grizzly Bear reintroduction to provide genetic links to the Greater Yellowstone population...............In addition to the biological ecological services that the trophic Griz would bring to the Colorado outdoors, the author below accurately highlights the economic boon for the state that would occur through eco-tourism................Grizzlies and Wolves generate hundreds of thousands of tourism $$ in Wyoming because of their protected status in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks..........As the author states-----"Think about what a huge tourist boom would result if Aspen, Vail and Telluride had small enclaves of grizzly bears"................ "Shoot, we wouldn’t need a national park if we could put a few grizzlies in Colorado National Monument, would we?".................... "At one time we had bison there, too"...................."What a photo op to be out hiking and suddenly see a mama grizzly with a couple of cute cubs"............. "Talk about a great “selfie” moment"............... "And for goodness sakes, Colorado has plenty of wilderness, national forests and conservation areas to support a few bears"

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.postindependent.com/news/grandjunction/12801108-113/grizzly-colorado-bears-grizzlies&ct=ga&cd=CAEYAioUMTA1MTU0ODYxNDA0MTk1NTU4NjAyGjU2ZDFlN2YxOWU4Zjk5OTE6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNH1--fo7p-goXUqGYgA5rIK-I9ZEA

Opinion: Should grizzly bears be re-introduced to western Colorado?

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Talk about a tourist attraction!

That proposal to re-introduce long-gone grizzlies back
 into the Colorado wild —

 what an inspiration that is!

Just think of it. First we get the moose introduced
 successfully to Grand Mesa,

 now this really keen idea comes along. After all, at
one time we had grizzlies

 in western Colorado.

Back in June, an environmental group called
The Center for Biological

 Diversity told the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
to do just that to help 

recover this threatened species. Their complaint
 is that F&W is too 

fragmented in how it operates, currently
focusing only on easy areas

 like Yellowstone, the Tetons and Alaska.

After all, these noble creatures at one time
made their homes in 

Arizona, New Mexico, around the Grand
 Canyon, in the Sierra 

Nevada of California (the grizzly is on
 California’s state flag,

 by the way), parts of Utah and, yes,
 Colorado.

Just like moose, or the one-time
endangered grey wolf, grizzlies 

could slowly regain some of their
 past habitat and become an asset.

Think about what a huge tourist boom
would result if Aspen, 

Vail and Telluride had small enclaves
of grizzly bears. Shoot, 

we wouldn’t need a national park if
 we could put a few grizzlies

 in Colorado National Monument,
would we? At one time we had

 bison there, too.What a photo op
 to be out hiking and suddenly

 see a mama grizzly with a couple
of cute cubs. Talk about a

 great “selfie” moment. And for
goodness sakes, Colorado has

 plenty of wilderness, national
forests and conservation areas 

to support a few bears.

F&W concedes it needs to
 look at its 1993 protection plan

 again, since it’s out of date. It
confirms that at least 50,000

 grizzlies roamed the West in the
 early 1800s. People in those

 days systematically took over the
 territory and, one by one,

 got rid of most of them.

Now we have about 16,000 in
British Columbia. Alaska is

 home to about 30,000. In the
 rest of the U.S., which was

 once one-half their habitat,
there are only about 1,500 left, 

with 800 in Montana 

and 600 in the Yellowstone area.

Noah Greenwald is director of
the Center for Biological

 Diversity’s endangered species
 program. 

He admitted there might be some
 opposition to the plan, but 

said that overall there seems to
be lots more reverence 

surrounding the bear.

“They’re just such an iconic
animal,” he said.

Unfortunately for Colorado’s
 habitat, the last confirmed sighting 

was in the San Juan Mountains
 out of Pagosa Springs on Sept.

 23, 1979. A female grizzly tangled
 with a bow hunter, mauled 

him a bit, and died when he stabbed
her with one of his arrows.

The best sighting recently was from
Aspen in 2007, when a 

photo of a grizzly and two cubs was
 circulating; It was taken, 

so the story goes, by a woman
working as a nanny for one of

 the many wealthy Aspenites. She
 reported she took a bus 

ride to the Maroon Bells-Snowmass
Wilderness stop to go 

on a short hike. When she saw the
 bears she snapped a 

photo, thinking “How cool is this!”

It dawned on her to get out of there
pronto, given that the 

advice from all the grizzly experts
 is to “stay at least 100 

yards from grizzly bears”.

By the way, the species name
 for grizzly bears is “Ursus

 arctos horribillis.” If you think
having a few of these big 

critters around for tourist promotion
(and helping an 

endangered species) would be
 cool, contact the 

Colorado Grizzly Coalition.
 It’s in Boulder.

At one time Hotchkiss thought
 grizzlies were pretty keen.