Montana releases final environmental assessment for grizzly management plan
A grizzly bear eyes a ground squirrel and a hiker in Northwest Montana. (Chris Peterson photo)
Montana plans to manage for a sustained grizzly bear population regardless of whether the animal’s Endangered Species Act protections are taken away in two Montana ecosystems where there are currently close to 1,000 grizzlies, but plans to continue addressing conflicts between the bears, humans and livestock, according to the final environmental impact statement for grizzly management released by the state last week.
The release of the finalized environmental assessment comes after years of work by the agency, Montana governors and the legislature to develop and amend grizzly bear management plans, the first of which was written for western Montana in 2006.
A plan for southwest Montana was published in 2013, and Gov. Steve Bullock created a Grizzly Bear Conservation and Management Advisory Council in 2019 that came up with recommendations, which then led to FWP publishing the initial draft EIS in December 2022, two public comment periods, and now the final version.
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