Commissioners agree to delisting grizzly bears

BONNERS FERRY — With the population of grizzly bears growing in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk recovery areas, Boundary County commissioners are calling for grizzly bears to be delisted as an endangered species.

Delisting grizzlies would remove them from the Endangered Species Act, but would not make it legal to hunt grizzlies.

“When animals get to the point of recovery, we want them to recover well,” said Commissioner Dan Dinning.

Dinning said if just the grizzly bear population at Glacier National Park were delisted without the Selkirks and the Cabinet-Yaak population, Boundary County would be a habitat “island” and alone wouldn’t meet criteria for delisting. In the past, Canadians used to be able to shoot grizzly bears for a certain period, which would hinder mortality numbers.

Boundary County officials said they are opposed to delisting the Glacier population without the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk population also being included.

“We are supporting the governor in essence that all bears in the Lower 48 should be delisted at the same time,” Dinning said.

Since the Selkirk recovery area is smaller than the others and crosses into Canada it may never be delisted. Dinning said that it is hard to meet recovery criteria in the recovery area when the laws in Canada allow the hunting of grizzlies. Dinning added it is difficult to get an exact count of the grizzly population in the Selkirks, but it has been a joint effort with Fish and Wildlife, state of Idaho, Kootenai Tribe and others to study and genetically track the grizzly population.

The push to delist grizzly bears was precipitated by Glacier National Park in Montana pushing to delist their grizzlies, Dinning said. The bears in recovery areas in Boundary County are genetically related to the bears in Glacier National Park.

The county has seen an increased grizzly population, Commissioner Tim Bertling said, noting that there are at least 10 grizzly bears on the North Bench. He added that farmers have had increasing problems with the bears getting into feed and disturbing their animals.

“We aren’t moving into their habitat, they are moving into ours,” Dinning said.

The commissioners said they did not think that the county would start a tag lottery or hunting season anytime soon for grizzlies.

On March 9, Idaho Gov. Brad Little petitioned to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove grizzly bears in the “Lower 48” United States from the Endangered Species Act and recognize states’ successful efforts to recover and manage grizzly populations.

“Bureaucratic gridlock is keeping healthy grizzly populations on the threatened species list unnecessarily. When there’s no exit for healthy grizzly populations from the Endangered Species Act, it’s time to demand a reset,” Little said. “For decades, Idaho, our sister states, tribes, local governments — and especially our rural communities — have invested considerable resources in this effort, and they have shouldered much of the burden of rebuilding grizzly bear populations.”

Delisting is an important, and long overdue, recognition of these major roles Idaho and its neighboring states Montana, Wyoming and Washington have played in grizzly bear recovery by growing the population from a few hundred bears in 1975 to currently over 2,000 bears across four states, said Roger Phillips, public information supervisor for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Grizzlies in the U.S. and Canada now number around 60,000 bears.