News Page Eighty Three
Plan to remove grizzly bears from endangered list stirs debate.
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Gardener, Mon., For 23 years, Chris Servheen has devoted himself to saving the grizzly bear from dying out in the American West. Now, it's ready to declare victory. Servheen, a hardy outdoors men with a handlebar mustache and drawn features, is the coordinator of grizzly bear recovery for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And he, along with other federal officials, are making plans to take bears off the endangered species list, where they have been listed as threatened since 1975.
By that year, the number of grizzlies in the lower 48 states had plummeted to between 200 and 250. As the bears were pressured by hunters and they lost their habitat to ranching and development, their numbers had dropped precipitously from the early 19th century, when s many as 50,000 roamed the West, ranging s far south as Mexico. Since they came under strict federal protection, the number of grizzlies in the lower 48 states has bounced back to between 1,200 and 1,400, along with 35,000 in Alaska, where the grizzly has never been listed as threatened. The largest concentration, 550 to 600, is in Yellowstone National Park, with the remainder scattered across northern Montana, northern Idaho and northern Washington.
In sharp contrast to the pending plan to take bald eagles off the endangered species list, the proposal to de list grizzly bears is a controversial one. Most government experts argue that it is time to abandon some of the protections. Their position is echoed by many stock growers and politicians, who insist the massive bears, the largest meat eating animals in the lower 48 states, pose to livestock and humans. But some environmentalists and scientist remain skeptical, arguing that the move could jeopardize the bears fragile position in what remains of their western habitat, most of it in national parks.
The federal officials are even considering de listen is testimony to the bears resurgence. Accordion to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the government has de listed 39 species in the 50 states since it created the list in 193 under the Endangered Species Act. Of these, nine went extinct, 15 recovered and 15 came off for technical reasons. About 1,300 species, including some in the U.S. trust territories, remain on it. The listing includes both threatened species, such as the grizzlies, and endangered ones that are in greater jeopardy of going extinct.
In contrast to the argument over grizzlies, the Bush administration's recent decision to take the bald eagle off the list by the end of this year is supported by most environmentalists in light of the birds dramatic surgence to more tan 7,500 nesting pairs reported nationwide. The grizzly bears comeback is far less dramatic, but Servheen said, "We've come a long way. This kind of talk worries Louisa Wilcox, director of the Natural Resources Defense Councils wild bear project. Wilcox, who has worked on grizzly conservation since 1985, said federal officials are ignoring the pressures the bears still face. "De-listing is really about taking chances," Wilcox said. "We believe de listing is premature unless and until habitats protected so bears can be established as a connected population between Yellowstone between Yellowstone and Canada. The challenge bears face today is pressure from people, oil a nd gas development, rural sprawl, and burgeoning off road vehicle use."
WIth their mammoth size they tend to be 500 to 600 pounds in the Rocky Mountains and their tendency to raid campers, food supplies and pounce on local livestock, grizzly bears do not always evoke sympathy. Occasionally they launch brutal attacks on humans, such as the dismemberment of Alaskan bear expert Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, in October by a hulking grizzly known s "The Big Red Machine."
"We need the laws to protect these bears and we need the political climate to protect these bears." Said Douglas Honnold, managing attorney for the Bozeman., Mont., office of Earth justice, an environmental law firm. Honnold added that many local officfials and livestock owners in the West have the attitude that "we don't want yours bears and we don't want your wolves" and are eager to kill grizzly bears that wander outside Yellowstone and other parks.
Ranchers say they are increasingly frustrated with the toll that grizzly bears take on their cattle. According to Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, bears cost the state's livestock industry $57,000 in fiscal 2003, killing 29 sheep, 92 calves, 11 cows and one bull. We're interested in the ability to deal with problem bears by removing them," Magagna said, adding to be more responsive to the needs of live sock producers.
Magagna and other stock growers have found an ally in Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont who had pushed in Washington to have grizzlies de listed. Burns said bears are not only treat to people and livestock but also have impeded logging in some national forests. "You just have to work around them all the time," Burnms said. "We have human beings that want to exist there, we have stock men who have to put up with losses with that bear, and we can't manage our forests as long as that beat is on the Endangered Species Act list."
Despite their high profile status, grizzly bears are hard to spot: During a resent trip to Yellowstone it took several hours to spot one massive grizzly lounging o a hill over looking the Lamar River. Some bristle at the accommodations that humans make for grizzlies , but Wilcox said these measures are justified. Although the bears are classified as carnivores, 80 present of their diet consists of vegetation and insects. They eat white bark pines seeds, for example, and the erratic supply of these seeds because of their natural cycle sometimes forces bears to wander farther afield in search of food. This places them in closer contact with humans, who can lead to them being shot.
Wildlife consultant Troy Merrill of LTB Consulting said periods declines in the availability of white bark pine seeds and moths correlates directly with increases in the number of bear deaths. ""Whats really important is what's on the landscape that allows bears to thrive and survive," said Chuck Schwartz, who leads the federally funded Interagency Grizzly Study Team.
Under the current plan's sometime early next year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would propose removing grizzly bears from the list. That would prompt a public comment period of about 60 days, in which all sides could weigh in. Them U.S. Fish and Wildlife Officials would make a final decision. If the animal does come off the list, the governors of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho have indicated they would considered holding grizzly bear hunts in their states.
By Juliet Eilperin/The Washington Post
The Associated Press File/Photo
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