Wildlife officials to keep public informed on grizzlies

By STEVE KADEL Western News Reporter

Wildlife officials say they will make a priority of keeping the public informed as they plan additional grizzly bear releases in the Cabinet Mountains.

Kootenai National Forest supervisor Bob Castaneda said the Cabinets can support more grizzlies, and that he favors bringing them from other places in the state.

"That's a really positive thing to do," he said. "That's one area where we have a chance to improve the bear population."

He spoke during a meeting of the Selkirk/Cabinet-Yaak Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. Representatives from national forests in Montana, Idaho and Washington gathered at the supervisor's office Wednesday for one of their twice-yearly meetings.

Part of their discussion centered on a bear released Sunday near Spar Lake. The grizzly sow was trapped in the Whitefish Range and trucked to the West Cabinets to bolster the area's grizzly numbers.

Jim Williams, regional wildlife manager for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and Wayne Kasworm of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service volunteered to write detailed guidelines for putting more bears into the Cabinets, including appropriate release sites.

Williams said that is necessary "so the expectations are very clear."

Castaneda emphasized that federal and state agencies must communicate with the public so there is no misunderstanding about what biologists call "augmentation" of the Cabinet grizzly population.

Kasworm agreed that the Cabinets, with its relatively low number of bears, is where efforts should be focused. He said there's evidence that bears travel back and forth between the Yaak and Canada.

That type of "linkage" is something biologists hope to establish someday between the Yaak and the Cabinets. There currently are no signs of bears doing that, Kasworm said.

Lincoln County Commissioner John Konzen suggested forming a citizens advisory group to give input on sites for releases in upcoming years. He said a district ranger might offer three optional sites for the citizens group to discuss and make a recommendation.

Kasworm said it's important to fine a remote area that has truck access so the bear can be transported there. Proper release sites also must have "good seasonal habitats" for bears, he said.

However, he added, "We can put them in a particular spot but they'll make up their own minds where they want to be."

Kasworm plans to continue fitting bears with radio collars to track their whereabouts. DNA sampling to learn more about which bears are still alive also will continue, although lack of money limits both programs.

"Securing more funds would be good," Kasworm said, "but the money has been going elsewhere."

Williams emphasized that only bears with no history of contact with humans or their food will be candidates for relocation.

"We will not touch any bear that is remotely habituated," he said.

Kasworm updated grizzly trapping efforts during 2005 with a written report given to subcommittee members this week. He noted there was an attempt to capture bears in Rock Creek near Noxon, with a llama carcass dumped along the Rock Creek road in April.

The meat attracted at least one and possibly more grizzlies to the site, Kasworm said. He also got reports of a female with young in the area. A trap was left out for two weeks, but no capture was made.

His report also mentioned the capture of a 550-pound male grizzly last month along the south fork of Bull River.

"The last grizzly bear capture in the Cabinet Mountains occurred almost 20 years ago," Kasworm wrote in his report.

A 2- to 3-year-old female grizzly was captured along the south fork of the Yaak River during July, he added. The bear weighed 160 pounds and was in good condition.

Another 4-year-old female was captured by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game north of Highway 95.

No grizzlies are known to have died on the Kootenai during 2003, 2004 or so far during 2005, Kasworm noted.