{"id":34891,"date":"2024-01-24T19:07:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T00:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=34891"},"modified":"2024-01-24T19:07:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T00:07:46","slug":"montana-free-press-input-sought-on-reintroduction-of-grizzly-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/01\/24\/montana-free-press-input-sought-on-reintroduction-of-grizzly-bears\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Free Press: Input sought on reintroduction of grizzly bears"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Grizzly<\/a>
A grizzly bear in Montana. Photo: Pat (Cletch) Williams<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Should feds reintroduce grizzly bears to the Bitterroot? USFWS seeks input.<\/div>\r\n
The new planning process comes as a handful of grizzlies have started moving into the Bitterroot Valley of their own accord.<\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, January 24, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Amanda Eggert<\/div>\r\n
Montana Free Press<\/DIV>\r\n
montanafreepress.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThis story is excerpted from the <\/em>MT Lowdown<\/em><\/a>, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday.<\/em>

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\r\n\r\nThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on January 17 announced that it\u2019s initiating a public input process that could help clear the way for reintroducing grizzly bears into the Bitterroot. 

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThe agency, which is charged with managing threatened and endangered species, is considering the move after a federal court ruled<\/a> that it had erred by failing to act on a 2000 record of decision<\/a> establishing a framework for a reintroduction of a \u201cnonessential experimental population\u201d in <\/strong>the Bitterroot Recovery Area. The recovery area spans 5,800 square miles and includes swaths of central Idaho as well as the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness on the west side of Montana\u2019s Bitterroot Valley.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSiding with the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council,<\/strong> U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has directed the agency to prepare a new Environmental Impact Statement. The public scoping process that USFWS is undertaking now is a preliminary step in the production of that document, which is expected in the latter half of 2026.

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\r\n\"Bitterroot<\/a>
Map of the Bitterroot Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone in Montana. Image Credit: U.S. Geological Survey<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn a release<\/a> soliciting input from the public, USFWS said it aims to create a plan that will incorporate potential effects on the human environment, approaches to managing bear-human conflicts, considerations related to grizzly bear connectivity between recovery zones and \u201cother relevant information regarding impacts.\u201d It noted that a \u201cno-action\u201d alternative is one of the options available to the agency.

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\r\nUSFWS is currently reviewing<\/a> a petition by Montana and Wyoming to delist the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly populations. Additionally, confirmed sightings of grizzlies<\/a> have been reported over the last year in parts of Montana where they haven\u2019t been seen in decades, including the Missouri River Breaks, the Shields River Valley<\/a> and the Pryor Mountains.

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