Grizzly regulations logjam timber economy

In a May 13 petition, members of Congress from Northern Rockies states once again admonished the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for what they say is a “flawed” and “ludicrous” proposal to continue listing the grizzly bear as an endangered species. 

“This decision punishes Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho’s successful grizzly bear recovery efforts,” states the petition, signed by U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, James Risch, R-Idaho, and U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho. “The FWS’s ‘Grizzly Bear Recovery Program 2023 Annual Report’ shows that our states have met and far exceeded the most recent set of recovery goals that FWS set for grizzly bears. All of this collaborative work is undermined by the FWS decision to yet again move the goalpost for delisting grizzly populations.” 

From Greater Yellowstone to the Selkirk Mountains of North Idaho, grizzly bear habitat protections have stalled the timber industry — a pillar of the region’s economy.  

In the Bonners Ferry District, U.S. Forest Service officials say no new timber sales are expected until at least 2027. The primary roadblock: grizzly bear recovery zones, which heavily restrict logging in roughly 95% of the district’s national forest land. 

“Boil this down to how the Endangered Species Act and grizzly bear regulations affect our community and our economy,” said Boundary County Commissioner Lester Pinkerton. “It’s extremely difficult to harvest any timber. There’s increased fire risk — an imminent danger to people’s lives. And we can't reach our timber goals.” 

Regulations and complexities hinder local sales 

On March 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the “immediate expansion of American timber production.” While the order aims to streamline Endangered Species Act compliance, it overlooks grizzly bear regulations. 

“The emergency declaration doesn't address the fact that the grizzly is listed, and it doesn't address our road density rules,” said Tim Gilloon, Idaho Panhandle National Forest supervisor.  

The current U.S. Forest Management Plan bases its grizzly bear road density regulations on research conducted in the 1990s in Boundary County’s Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems. In the 1997 report, wildlife biologists Wayne Wakkinen and Wayne Kasworm tracked six adult female grizzly bears for several years and found that creating more “secure habitat with low motorized access have typically retained healthy bear populations.” 

Because of these regulations, the Bonners Ferry District can only have a select few timber harvests online at any given time, even when there are several lined up.  

Right now, the district is waiting to close out a harvest along Boulder Creek so it can begin another near Katka Peak. Just south in Benewah County, where there are no grizzly ecosystems, both would be online.    Boundary County’s forestland contains the densest concentration of crucial habitat protection areas identified by the Vital Ground Foundation — the nation’s largest grizzly bear habitat conservation land trust, based in Missoula, Montana.

Additionally, the pre-harvest consultation is exceedingly complicated and time consuming for grizzly bear habitat, said District Ranger Heather Fuller, because so few wildlife biologists know how to do them. 

“There’s a lot of frustration, even with agency biologists, on the constraints that we have to work with, given that we know good habitat for bears requires mixed habitat,” Fuller said. 

In some Idaho Panhandle National Forest biological assessments, consultants have cited scientific research that indicates logging can be beneficial to grizzly bears. 

“There is a body of research that says harvesting leads to long-term positive habitat impacts,” Fuller said. “There’s also, unfortunately, literature that says it's the roads and interactions with humans that are problematic for grizzlies.

“Grizzly bears are a charismatic species. There’s a lot of people that want to do what’s best for them, and it’s very easy to pick the research that most fits your agenda. If you want to stop logging, then it’s easy to find research that points to that without telling the full story.” 

The ‘disconnect’ in the grizzly debate 

Though grizzlies have been listed in the Endangered Species Act since 1975, the national debate over their management has grown increasingly polarized since 2021, when Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte formally petitioned to transfer control of grizzlies from the federal government to the state.

One commonly overlooked aspect of the debate is the economic impact grizzly protection efforts can have on logging communities, from ESA regulations to litigations holding up timber sales. 

Even Gianforte passed over the disruptive consequences that federal protection has on the timber industry. In the 2021 petition, he only references the impact to farmers, ranchers and recreationists.

Supporters of federal listing often argue that the Endangered Species Act's threat to rural economies is overstated, pointing to how rarely ranchers lose livestock to predation. 

Some listing advocates, including the Mountain Journal, a non-profit magazine based in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, take the argument further — claiming that grizzlies can benefit local economies in the Northern Rockies through ecotourism. 

Hunting is typically framed as the principal purpose of delisting. 

“There’s a disconnect,” said Commissioner Ben Robertson. “Most automatically think we’re promoting hunting, and that’s not the case. We’re advocating for a delisting so there’s mixed-use management of our forests.” 

How to move forward 

For now, timber output in the Bonners Ferry District will be limited to about 10 million board feet each year for the next several years.  

The federal Forest Funds reimbursement system has changed with the expiration of the Secure Rural Schools Act of 2000 — which for decades provided Boundary County with a reliable, inflation-adjusted average of $1.73 million per year. Now, the system has reverted to a 1908 law that issues 25% reimbursement for that year’s harvest level. This year’s 10 million board feet in sales earned the county a meager $413,837. 

“Our harvests have a direct impact, not only in our industry, but on schools and county government,” Robertson said. “The burden is on our taxpayers.” 

Commissioners and Forest Service agents have been discussing options to facilitate smaller timber sales — in the range of two to three million board feet per sale — that can go online without the same Endangered Species Act holdups as the typical large sales. 

Fuller said one area that shows promise is a few-thousand-acre fuel break near Meadow Creek, a rare swath of national forest land in the district that lies outside grizzly bear recovery zones. 

“I’m all for the fuel breaks and the smaller sales,” Pinkerton said. “With smaller sales, small operators will have the potential to bid on them."