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Last Updated on Saturday, 29 October 2011 01:00

Written by Saige Albert

The move toward removing grizzly bears from the endangered species list is waiting for the outcome of ongoing litigation, despite the fact that the population is fully recovered.

“The estimate for the core population for 2012 is 593 bears – that is in the recovery zone and surrounding area,” said Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) bear management specialist Mark Bruscino. “The population is probably considerably larger than that – probably around 700 to 900 bears in the entire Greater Yellowstone Area.”

“Biologically, the population has recovered and met all recovery goals,” adds Bruscino. “The grizzly bear population has continued to grow at between four and seven percent each year for the last 15 years.”

The current method of estimating the Yellowstone grizzly bear population involves counting unduplicated sow grizzly bears with cubs-of-the-year and using statistical analysis of data to estimate total bear numbers.  

Another method being evaluated is a mark-recapture technique, described by Deputy Director of the WGFD John Emmerich at the Aug. 26 meeting of the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.

A basic assumption of the mark-recapture technique is that all bears are equally observable.    

“We mark most of the bears in the front country, yet see very few marked bears in the back country. Is that because marked bears make up such a small portion of the population so they are not observed compared to unmarked bears, or because front country bears are not using back country areas?” asked Emmerich. “We are not sure, so the basic assumption needs to be evaluated before this technique can be used with any confidence. ”

While the state has also investigated a modified mark-recapture technique that utilizes hair samples which are assigned to individual bears through DNA analysis, the labor intensive, very expensive approach has not been pursued due to lack of funding commitments from potential partners.  

Emmerich also reported that the current conservation strategy calls for managing the Yellowstone grizzly population above 500 animals, a level that current conservative population estimates indicate is exceeded by at least 100 bears.

Emmerich, in reviewing the history of the grizzly bear recovery effort, says, “The grizzly bear was listed as threatened in 1975, two years after the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973.”

“From the late 1970s, the WGFD has been very involved in grizzly bear recovery efforts in terms of managing damage, monitoring bear numbers and managing mortality, all of which have been instrumental in the recovery,” says Emmerich.

“By 1999, all the demographic objectives had been met,” Emmerich continues. “The number of females with cubs-of-the-year we were seeing in our counts, and the distribution of bears in the bear management areas, had met established recovery objectives.”

Emmerich explains that all the planning documents were in place for habitat protection and for conserving grizzly bears by 2003. However, before the move to delisting can take place, litigation must be resolved.    

“Litigation is over two issues – the adequacy of the science around the importance of white bark pine nuts to the long-term recover of grizzly bears, and the adequacy of regulatory mechanisms that will govern grizzly bear management,” explains Bruscino. “The case is currently appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco, Calif. ,and we are awaiting a decision.”

The appeal hearing occurred six months ago as a result of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appeal to Judge Donald Molloy’s decision. Molloy sided with a coalition of environmental groups on the two issues in a Missoula, Mont. hearing.

“All the management agencies, including the Fish and Wildlife Service, disagree with Judge Molloy’s ruling,” says Emmerich. “There are adequate regulatory mechanisms, and the reduction of the white bark pine is not a major factor in the long-term survival of grizzly bears.”

“If we completely succeed in the litigation, then we will move toward delisting within a few months,” comments Bruscino. “We are looking forward to a decision, and we hope to have one sometime by early 2012.”

With an increased number of bears, some conflict with livestock and humans is seen. Conflicts with bears are affected short-term by the amount of annual, natural food available and long-term by the trend in bear numbers and distribution, says Bruscino.

“I would call this year an average year for the number of conflicts we saw,” says Bruscino. “However, last year was our worst year ever and that was in light of a really poor natural food year. This year was a pretty good natural food year, and we see the number of conflicts go down pretty significantly when food is available.”

“Over the long-term, we have seen an increase in conflicts as bears recolonize multiple use lands outside of Yellowstone Park and in the core wilderness areas,” notes Bruscino. “We have also seen an increase in livestock and property damage conflicts.”

The long-term trends are also affected by bears living in a lot of “highly-managed landscapes,” according to Bruscino, who notes those areas see high recreational and agriculture use, as well as industry use.

As Wyoming and the WGFD continue to wait for a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court, the WGFD has developed a considerable education program to help people prevent or manage conflicts, as well as prevent conflict through bear-proof installations.

The Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is one of five grizzly bear populations in the northwest that is being recovered, including the northern Continental Divide population and three others that spread into northern Idaho and Washington.

Emmerich says, “The Greater Yellowstone population is one that has met all recovery goals. It is time to delist and return management responsibility to state wildlife agencies.”

Saige Albert is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Friday, 22 July 2011 10:42

Written by Cat Urbigkit

Pinedale – Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) Deputy Director John Emmerich told the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation and Wildlife Committee in their late-May meeting that, although the official population estimate for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region is 600, he’d venture to guess there are “at least 1,000 bears in the population.”
Emmerich explained to the committee that when plans and goals for grizzly bear recovery were written, the models and calculations utilized were very conservative – to err on the side of the bear. But he said grizzly bears are now recovered, and it’s time for a re-evaluation of the methodology of calculating the population to get a more accurate count, he said.
“To get a fairly tight population estimate would cost about $12.9 million,” Emmerich said.
That amount would pay for an intensive survey effort involving the collection of grizzly bear hair at corral traps or rubbing trees throughout the tri-state Yellowstone ecosystem. The hair samples would be subject to DNA analysis, which allows for identification of individual bears. Undertaking such a program would involve many agencies and would be both labor intensive and expensive, Emmerich said.
However, even having such research in hand would not increase the probability that grizzly bears would be removed from the list of species protected pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act, Emmerich said, because the 2009 court ruling that bears must remain protected “had nothing to do with the biology of the bear.”
Emmerich said the Montana federal judge’s decision that bears cannot be removed from federal protection hinged on his view that there were inadequate regulatory mechanisms in place to ensure the continued survival of the grizzly bear, and the court’s concern over declining whitebark pine, a food source for bears.
In describing the decision, issued by Montana federal judge Donald Molloy, Emmerich told the committee, “He has set the bar so high, he has made it almost impossible to recover anything, in my personal opinion.”
Another action that is also taking place currently is the re-evaluation of the criteria that are used in population modeling. This “rule set” is being examined by a study team, Emmerich said. While the outcome won’t be known until this fall, Emmerich said he expects that in the end, the population estimate will be 40 to 60 percent higher than the current minimum estimate, which uses the conservative criteria.
The importance of having a better population estimate isn’t for delisting, Emmerich said, “but it will give us a better idea of how many bears can be removed from the population.”
Since lethal “take” thresholds are based on the percentage of bears in the population, a 10 percent threshold for removal of problem bears equates to 60 bears (for a population of 600). To put that into perspective, the WGFD trapped and either killed or relocated 65 bears last year – more than 10 percent of the current population estimate.
Kim Floyd, executive secretary of the Wyoming AFL-CIO, spoke with the commission in support of the nearly $13 million research proposal, and indicated he’s personally willing to work to help bring additional funding to the table by approaching interested non-profit groups.
Floyd said he has “watched this explosion of grizzly bears,” and knows that some hunters and recreationalists are turning away from the region because of the thriving grizzly population.
“I wonder how much more the state is going to lose because of this situation,” Floyd said, suggesting the money on the research project would be a good investment for the future of bear management.
Committee co-chairman Senator Bruce Burns of Sheridan said he was “dubious” as to the value of study in terms of getting grizzly bears delisted, noting it would also be a hard sale of the floor of the legislature. Burns did pledge to keep an open mind about the issue, noting he would like to hear funding commitments from public agencies and private organizations.
Representative Allen Jaggi of Lyman said, in his view, “there are too many grizzlies” and the bears are not showing any fear of man, instead approaching too closely.
“More people will have more conflicts, and probably more people will get killed,” Jaggi said, adding he fears continued litigation from groups whose goal is to prevent any hunting of grizzlies.
WGFD Director Scott Talbott told the committee: “We continue to document bears from the southern portion of the Wyoming Range, and the southern portion of the Wind River Range, and, as of this week, we have a grizzly bear on Gooseberry Creek between the Meeteetse rest area and the town of Worland.”
Talbott said the grizzly bear population continues to increase between four and seven percent each year.
“We are committed to the conservation of this species,” Talbott said, noting that the state wildlife agency invested nearly $2 million last year in grizzly bear management.
“We feel very, very strongly that grizzly bears should be delisted,” Talbott said.
Representative Kathy Davison of Kemmerer said she felt the committee would spend $20 million if it felt it would result in grizzly bear delisting. But, since that’s not the case, Davison said, “I don’t think it’s a good investment right now.”
State officials have appealed the federal court decision that reinstituted protections for grizzly bears to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Talbott reported, and a decision on the appeal is expected this fall.
Cat Urbigkit is a correspondent for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Monday, 27 July 2009 10:55

Written by Echo Renner

Worland – As the recovered Yellowstone area grizzly bear population continues to grow, the number of human – grizzly bears conflicts increase.
    In Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and the area parks, the grizzly bear population has increased 17.3 percent from an estimated 508 bears in 2004 to 596 in 2008. Conflicts have increased 6.45 percent during the same time. Bears captured are up 55 percent from 14 bears captured in management actions in 2003 to 31 captured in 2008. Bear mortality in agency management, self-defense, and illegal removal are up 77 percent from 2004 to 2008.
    “Causes for increased conflict include the extra heavy snow pack, poor whitebark pine crop, and more bears,” explains Steve Ferrell, Wyoming Game & Fish (WGFD) Department Director.
    In 2008, an abundant berry crop across the Yellowstone area provided a good food source, while whitebark pine had a poor year. Human – bear interactions and conflicts are a result of bears seeking unnatural foods in association with people, property, or livestock. The number and location of human-bear conflicts is influenced by unsecured unnatural attractants — human foods, garbage, grain — along with natural food distribution and abundance and human and livestock use patterns on the landscape.
    “Human – bear conflicts follows trends in natural foods,” explains WGFD Bear Management Officer Mark Bruscino. “When natural food is not as abundant, human-bear conflicts are more likely. From year to year, it has to do with weather and natural food abundance. Over the long-term, the increase in the number of bears and the increasing number of people using the land leads to more conflicts and more bear mortalities.”
    In 2008, there were 20 hunter-related grizzly bear kills, which is higher than normal. Fifteen of those were in self-defense situations, and five were cases of mistaken identity. “We need to do more hunter education,” comments Ferrell.
    WGFD says most grizzly bears don’t persistently kill livestock, which is a behavior unique to adult males. Historically, the WGFD has removed a few bears from livestock conflicts. Usually, they move problem bears, collar and monitor them. In 2008, 12 of the 32 grizzly bears captured were from livestock depredation and conflict, and four of the 46 grizzly mortalities in Wyoming were removed in management action for livestock depredation.
    “Removing bears for killing livestock is one of smallest categories for management mortalities. Most are caused from bears doing property damage,” says Bruscino. “In open range situations, most of livestock losses from bears occur at night in an open range mountain setting. That makes it difficult to do any prevention or deterrent work. The best thing a producer can do is be alert for losses and report those, so we can get a handle on what is going on, and possibly assist in management effort. If losses are located in time, a producer can also apply for compensation.”
    Bruscino says, “With small numbers of livestock closer to the house, guard dogs, or any sort of aggressive dog, can help. In a small pasture setting, electric fence is helpful. A considerable number of bears get into garbage and livestock feed with grain in it, so bear-proof dumpsters help, and so do granaries or strong storage buildings with tight seams, good latches and hinges.”
    If grizzly mortalities are at nine percent for adult female grizzlies for two consecutive years, or at 15 percent for adult male grizzlies for two consecutive years, the mortality threshold is met, which triggers a review under the current grizzly bear management plan.
    Wyoming, outside Yellowstone National Park, is responsible for 49 percent of the grizzly bear population in the Yellowstone area, as Wyoming has the bulk of the bear habitat. Montana, Idaho and the parks are responsible for the remaining population.
    Ferrell says there are three lawsuits relating to the grizzly bear pending. All essentially challenge grizzly bear delisting, which took place on April 30, 2007. Two of the cases were filed in Idaho, while one was filed in Judge Malloy’s federal court in Montana. Judge Malloy’s ruling on wolf management last summer prompted the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to relist the gray wolf, just months after delisting.
    Game and Fish Director Steve Ferrell spoke at the Feb. 7 Guardians of the Range Annual Meeting in Worland. Echo Renner is a correspondent for the WLR, and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .