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In his most recent book Monsters of God, author David Quammen answers it this way, “Call me a pessimist, but when I look into the future, I don’t see any lions, tigers, or bears…my guess, a regretfully gloomy one, is that the last wild, viable, free ranging populations of big flesh eaters will disappear somewhere around the middle of the next century. I see the year 2150 as the probably end point of the special relationship between us and them. That’s not far off, less than eight human generations. It is just enough time to encompass a welter of uncertainties… along with one weighty inevitability; the continuing growth of human population and consumption.” I know that I am not alone in wanting desperately to prove Dave Quammen wrong. We need not and should not accept such a fate for the great carnivores such as the grizzly, an animal that is a barometer of the health of the Northern Rockies ecosystems and a wilderness icon, lying at the heart of the western experience in the U.S. and Canada and the meaning of national parks such as Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff and Jasper. But this unthinkable fate had crept a few steps closer with the reelection of George W. Bush, whose administration has wasted no time announcing their next wave of assaults on the environment, all with bad consequences for bears -- energy development in the West, proposals to weaken the Endangered Species Act, and the Orwellian “Healthy Forests” initiative.” Reduced by 99% of its former numbers in the lower 48 states in just over 200 years, the grizzly, with only 1500 or so animals remaining, has perhaps never been so threatened. One of the worst proposals is the removal of endangered species protections for In addition, there are communities waiting in the wings to kill bears as soon as delisting occurs. Four counties in Wyoming where many bears currently live have passed resolutions that state that grizzlies are unacceptable, and commissioners have made it clear that they intend to kill bears that roam in the county. After delisting, the counties will have a greater say in grizzly management. Of particular concern is the fact that delisting plans do not protect one third of the currently occupied habitat in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. These lands, located mostly in Finally, if numbers plummet after delisting, there is little chance of relisting the grizzly, partly because the trigger mechanisms in the delisting plans are discretionary and vague. And, the Bush administration has successfully avoided listing voluntarily a single species, despite a backlog of thousands of species which are in danger of extinction. Litigation to relist will be time consuming, possibly proving to be too little, too late. The proposed delisting of The good news in this otherwise bleak picture is that it is still possible to get it right for bears in 1.) Expand the size of the areas where bears can roam. 2.) Restore bears to the now vacant Selway/Bitterroot Ecosystem which can harbor 400 or more bears. 3.) Connect grizzly ecosystems to each other in the lower-48 states and to Canadian sources populations, rather than continuing to manage bears as isolated populations. 4.) Harvest the lessons learned over the last several decades about how to make peace with the Great Bear. 5.)
Engage—each
and every one of us—in a transparent, fair and democratic process, the
likes of
which does not yet exist in the bear world in the Why does the grizzly need all this? First are the serious biological strikes against the bear, which make it easy to exterminate and hard to grow. Slow reproductive rates, lower than any other mammal in Second is the irrefutable fact that the future of bear habitat in the West will not look like the past of the present. It will look far worse as a result of human population growth, escalating development, mounting off-road vehicles, and snowmobiles which are buzzing thought bear habitat in early summer—in some places four months after bears have emerged from their dens. Global warming will dramatically change the bear’s food sources, reducing the amount of key foods in some areas, such as Third, the current systems are failing the bear and will worsen under this administration. The reason is that the government is: 1.) operating their programs on too small as scale, managing isolated individual populations, rather than a connected whole; 2.) cutting funds needed for protection such as law enforcement; 3.) applying unprecedented levels of direct political pressure on agencies to exploit resources; 4.) effectively banking on Canada to provide bears to fuel U.S. grizzly recovery, even though Alberta bears are not in good shape and are declining in number; 5.) allowing the Selkirks, Cabinet Yaak and North Cascades populations to go extinct, in part by putting the lion’s share of available grizzly resources into delisting Yellowstone and Glacier bears. 1. Protect Secure Habitat. Given the current isolation and fragmentation of grizzly habitat, it is essential to protect all remaining wildlands. This step would go a long way to expanding bear populations and connecting remaining ecosystems. <> 2. Restore Degraded Habitat. Restoration could improve the condition of hundreds of thousands of acres that have been so heavily roaded, mostly for timber, that today they constitute killing fields, rather than safe havens for bear. Targeted road closures and obliteration would go a long way to expanding the areas were bears can be and connecting ecosystems. And the elimination of domestic sheep grazing on public lands would reduce lethal conflicts between grizzlies and sheep herders. 3. Reduce Human Caused Mortality. Much more needs to be done to reduce bear mortality by improving how people behave in bear country, in terms of handling garbage and other attractants, managing livestock, and pursuing big game and black bear hunting. Significant recent successes with managing bear attractants also points to the need to promote community approaches to resolving conflicts. 4. Promote Stewardship and Protection of About one fifth of possible suitable grizzly bear habitat for bear expansion is on private lands. Many groups are committed to private lands conservation work, but land prices are increasing, and in some areas, the pace of development is outstripping the pace of land protection. 5. Develop a New Framework for Transboundary Grizzly Management Today, bear ecosystems are not managed as connected landscapes across the U.S./Canada border. And in some cases, policies and programs are working at cross purposes. A focused and meaningful transboundary grizzly recovery effort must be initiated, including citizens, non-governmental organizations, scientists and agencies, emphasizing protection and restoration of degraded lands, and resolution of human-bear conflicts. 6. Improve Recovery Program with Broader Public Participation Reforming the grizzly recovery process is fundamental to improving the prospects for bears. First the process must be opened up to scrutiny of its underlying assumptions. Specific measures for success and failure, as called for by the Society for Conservation Biology, Society of Mammalogy and others, must also be developed. And, non-governmental organizations need to be included in the process, as recommended by the How can all this happen? By rolling up our sleeves and connecting with our neighbors, elected officials and others to demand protection for grizzly bears and their wildland ecosystems. By staying true to the place in our hearts that loves wild places and creatures and knows now is not the time to compromise. And by dreaming. Yes, dreaming. Because dreaming is the first step in recreating the world. Native Americans have an old story of the bear dreamer, the bear that crawls into the den each winter to spend the darkest, coldest months dreaming the world into being. Creating a whole ecosystem in one long winter’s dream. With bears now so severely under siege, it is time for us all to become bear dreamers. Dreaming and working to create a bigger, wilder landscape and communities to match. We can do it, together. |
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