Landowners Tell Feds To Heed
Advice From Locals On Bears

CHOTEAU, Mont. — Outsiders, bureaucrats and their perceptions of the "needs" of grizzly bears get too much weight compared to the hands-on knowledge of local people and the needs of livestock owners. Besides, and there are now so many grizzlies that they should be removed from the threatened-species list immediately.

So said landowners at a recent hearing here.

Grizzly-bear numbers in the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem are sufficiently high, some owners of property near Choteau and Augusta told a panel working on a grizzly-recovery plan. Eventual removal of grizzlies from the threatened-species list is one goal of the plan, but bureaucrats argue that certain criteria must be met before removal can be proposed formally.

There must be evidence that bear habitat will be protected, and that accurate population counts are in place, said Chris Servheen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As grizzly-bear recovery coordinator for the agency, Servheen owes his living to a shortage of bears, whether real, perceived or procedural; when protected status is gone, the "recovery" will be complete.

The landowners told a subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee to listen better to people with first-hand knowledge of bear numbers along the Rocky Mountain Front. Too much attention is given to claims by people residing outside of Montana, the speakers said.

"You should be listening to the natives and you aren't," said Bert Guthrie, 65, a Choteau-area rancher.

There may be 300 to 400 grizzly bears in the ecosystem, but nobody knows for sure, Servheen countered. He said an estimated 50,000 grizzly bears were in the western United States in the 1800s, but now there are fewer than 1000 and they cover less than two percent of their original range.

Ranchers along the Rocky Mountain Front may be seeing more bears, but their numbers are not strong throughout the ecosystem, Servheen contended.

About 50 people attended the hearing, held to gather public comment for consideration as the recovery plan develops.

The subcommittee was also briefed on a new plan for restricting motorized access in the Lewis & Clark, Flathead, Lolo and Helena national forests, plus access to some Bureau of Land Management property. Controlling access to bear habitat is a key element of the recovery plan.

The proposal given the subcommittee would initiate road and trail closures differently on the western and eastern sides of the Continental Divide, taking into account differences in habitat and the number of forest roads. Proposals for seasonal rather than permenant closure of some roads also are a key part of the access plan, which is set for action by the subcommittee in July.