Idahoans Tout Rally
Against Grizzly Plan

SALMON, Idaho —(AP)— Lemhi County commissioners are hopeful there will be a strong turnout at a rally to protest the proposed reintroduction of grizzly bears in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

Commissioners said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposed reintroduction poses a threat to public safety and an added economic impact to public and private land users, who are already coping with other endangered or threatened species, including wolves, salmon, bull trout and steelhead.

``In my opinion this county and community cannot afford another government experiment that will undoubtedly go awry, just as wolf reintroduction has,'' Commissioner Mike England said Monday. ``The wolf reintroduction wasn't supposed to have any impact on our agricultural community, and it has seriously affected a part of it.''

Commissioners also are concerned about adding one more predator to a system where they will be forced to prey on elk herds that are already declining. Cougar populations are burgeoning and wolf numbers are rapidly multiplying.

Commissioners have sent notices to the 43 other Idaho counties as well as to counties in Montana about Wednesday's rally.

They hope to match the number of people who gathered at the Lemhi County Fairgrounds on Jan. 22, 1995, for a group photo. That day, more than 2000 residents of Lemhi and Custer counties turned out to protest an injunction that threatened to shut down eight forests, including the Salmon-Challis National Forest.

Congressional aides and state legislators will attend the rally. And former Idaho Fish and Game Director Steve Mealey, who once did a study on whether the Frank Church wilderness could sustain a grizzly bear population, will give a speech.