A grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. (Photo by Frank van Manen / USGS / Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 / Unedited)
If you gave two toddlers a set of crayons and a map of Yellowstone National Park, their resulting artwork would likely look similar to the GPS tracks showing the wanderings of two grizzly bears relocated from Montana to Wyoming earlier this year.
The two subadult grizzlies, one male and one female, were fitted with tracking collars upon their capture and a new map by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Friday shows their roaming range since their release into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
From a release site just south of Yellowstone Lake, the male grizzly seems to have marked out tightly knit boundaries on his new territory. His tracking lines show a flurry of activity concentrated within about 20 miles of where he was dropped off.
The female grizzly, by contrast, has thoroughly explored northwest Wyoming from her initial release location north of Dubois. She has ranged west to the shore of Jackson Lake near Teton National Park, looped up around the entirety of Yellowstone Lake nearly two times, and roamed all the way into eastern Idaho, hopping the border into Montana before returning to the east side of Yellowstone Park.
“We are very pleased to see that both bears have remained in the GYE, even staying mostly within remote areas of the Recovery Zone,” said Cecily Costello, FWP grizzly bear researcher. “It’s not always easy for a bear to adjust after being moved like this, but they seem to be settling in. We believe both have recently found a den site for the winter.”
The two bears had been successfully trapped in July near the Middle Fork Flathead River, part of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem , and released in Wyoming’s Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Both bears were subadults between three and five years old, not yet at sexual maturity, and had no history of conflicts with humans. At this age, according to Montana FWP wildlife division head Ken McDonald, the bears are often in search of a permanent home range, making them likely to stay close to their relocation spots.
Grizzlies in the Lower 48 states are protected as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act with six defined recovery areas across the northwestern United States. In both the NCDE and GYE recovery areas, the grizzly population is estimated around 1,100, the Selkirk recovery area spanning the Washington-Idaho-British Columbia border has roughly 80 bears, and Montana’s Cabinet-Yaak recovery area has around 40 bears. A few grizzlies have been documented in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, but there are currently no bears in Washington’s Northern Cascades.
While the populations of the NCDE and GYE are robust and have expanded their ranges beyond the recovery zones, there remains no documentation of grizzlies crossing between the distinct populations. This physical separation prevents genetic mixing between the populations — a key to long-term conservation of the species.
The efforts by Montana and Wyoming wildlife officials, in consultation with federal officials, to relocate two bears from one population to the other will supplement the gene pool and increase the species’ sustainability. It’s an effort that may be repeated in the future, according to FWP, depending on how close in proximity the two populations of grizzlies eventually grow.
“This just jump starts what very likely will also happen naturally,” McDonald, said in a statement.
According to McDonald, Montana and Wyoming have and will continue to act on their commitment to connectivity between the two grizzly populations, and the agencies will continue to monitor the bears and their genetics to check for population diversity.
“That these bears are exploring their new ecosystem and seem to be doing well is an indication that they’ll thrive in their new environment,” McDonald said. “It also reflects the commitment Montana has to grizzly bear conservation.”
The successful translocation also provides a new benchmark for state officials to use in their push for delisting grizzlies and returning management to the states. Montana, Wyoming and Idaho officials have all petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove grizzlies from the Endangered Species List, a controversial move some conservation groups oppose.
According to FWP, the states have met delisting requirements for both ecosystems and addressed concerns identified by the public or outlined by federal courts that ruled against previous delisting efforts.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to release decisions on grizzly protections in the two biggest ecosystems by the end of January.
However, just last week a group of 15 environmental and animal conservation groups sent a petition to FWS asking it to update its Grizzly Bear Recovery Plans just weeks before the expected decision. The latest intervention is based on a new report written by FWS’s former longtime grizzly bear recovery manager, Chris Servheen, which recommends against delisting.
It says grizzlies remain vulnerable despite population increases, and, among other arguments, the current recovery plan fails to account for population increases in the northern Rocky Rockies or efforts in recent years by western states to enact programs focused on reducing predator populations, including grizzlies.
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