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Where to allow grizzlies?
By JEFF GEARINO, Casper Star Tribune
October 27, 2004
GREEN RIVER -- Wyoming's grizzly bear management plan says bears will be allowed to expand outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and into areas that are biologically suitable and socially acceptable.
It's up to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to pinpoint where those areas will be.
The department will unveil its draft grizzly bear occupancy proposal for managing the animal after its federal protections are removed under the Endangered Species Act when the Game and Fish Commission meets Nov. 4-5 in Torrington.
Game and Fish wildlife officials said the department will schedule 12 public meetings across the state beginning in mid-November to gather public input on the proposed post-delisting grizzly bear occupancy areas.
The commission meeting begins at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 4 and 9:30 a.m. Nov. 5 at the Super 8 Motel in Torrington.
Agency public information specialist Jeff Obrecht said the commission will hear public comments on non-agenda items at 11 a.m. Nov. 5.
The commission approved the controversial grizzly bear management plan in February 2002. The department received more than 8,000 written comments on the plan, the most public comments ever received by the Game and Fish on any wildlife issue.
The plan allows for the management of the grizzly bear outside the primary conservation area, a federally designated zone that consists of the two parks and the outlying national forest wilderness areas.
Following the completion of the plan, the department agreed to further refine grizzly bear occupancy within the area delineated in the plan. The commitment was the result of concerns expressed by some residents, and the Fremont County Commission, that grizzly bear occupancy within the outer boundary described in the state plan was too vague.
Federal biologists say grizzly bear numbers have reached sufficient levels to allow for the removal of the animal's protections under the Endangered Species Act, perhaps as early as late 2005. Wyoming, Montana and Idaho must have federally approved management plans in place that will allow the states to assume management of the grizzly bear once delisting occurs.
Overall, Wyoming's management plan proposes to allow bears to expand into areas within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with an outer boundary running along the Wyoming highways at the edge of the ecosystem. The outer boundary runs from Cody south to Thermopolis and Shoshoni, and then west through Lander, Pinedale, LaBarge and Kemmerer.
The plan would not allow bears in the Big Horn Range, the Snowy Range or the Sierra Madres.
Game and Fish Department Wildlife Division Chief John Emmerich said the agency anticipates having a public comment period on the draft occupancy proposal run from Nov. 13 until Dec. 31.
Emmerich said the proposal was developed, in part, from an analysis that a Game and Fish internal working group made of available grizzly bear food sources and suitable habitats.
The analysis -- which also looked at existing human uses such as livestock allotments and developed recreational sites -- was used to help determine biologically suitable areas.
In other business, the commission will hear an update from Gov. Dave Freudenthal's brucellosis task force. The task force has been working since February to formulate short and long-term recommendations that will help restore Wyoming's federal brucellosis-free status the state lost earlier this year.
The commission will also hear a proposal from a resident sportsman asking the commission to consider a regulation that would govern the transport of deer and elk from chronic wasting disease areas. Two years ago, the department began a massive, statewide CWD surveillance program to track the spread of the disease in Wyoming.
The agency is sampling several thousand hunter-killed deer this fall as part of the program. CWD causes infected deer and elk to basically waste away and die. The brain-related ailment is 100 percent fatal to wildlife, but researchers say the risk, if any, of transmission to humans is low.
Other topics to be presented to the commission include an overview of federal and state wildlife grants; an "Adopt-a-Fishing Access" proposal; recognition of the Wyoming Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep; and a discussion of the 2-Shot Goose Hunt support for the Rawhide Habitat Management Area.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at (307) 875-5359 or at gearino@trib.com.
By JEFF GEARINO, Casper Star Tribune
October 27, 2004
GREEN RIVER -- Wyoming's grizzly bear management plan says bears will be allowed to expand outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and into areas that are biologically suitable and socially acceptable.
It's up to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to pinpoint where those areas will be.
The department will unveil its draft grizzly bear occupancy proposal for managing the animal after its federal protections are removed under the Endangered Species Act when the Game and Fish Commission meets Nov. 4-5 in Torrington.
Game and Fish wildlife officials said the department will schedule 12 public meetings across the state beginning in mid-November to gather public input on the proposed post-delisting grizzly bear occupancy areas.
The commission meeting begins at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 4 and 9:30 a.m. Nov. 5 at the Super 8 Motel in Torrington.
Agency public information specialist Jeff Obrecht said the commission will hear public comments on non-agenda items at 11 a.m. Nov. 5.
The commission approved the controversial grizzly bear management plan in February 2002. The department received more than 8,000 written comments on the plan, the most public comments ever received by the Game and Fish on any wildlife issue.
The plan allows for the management of the grizzly bear outside the primary conservation area, a federally designated zone that consists of the two parks and the outlying national forest wilderness areas.
Following the completion of the plan, the department agreed to further refine grizzly bear occupancy within the area delineated in the plan. The commitment was the result of concerns expressed by some residents, and the Fremont County Commission, that grizzly bear occupancy within the outer boundary described in the state plan was too vague.
Federal biologists say grizzly bear numbers have reached sufficient levels to allow for the removal of the animal's protections under the Endangered Species Act, perhaps as early as late 2005. Wyoming, Montana and Idaho must have federally approved management plans in place that will allow the states to assume management of the grizzly bear once delisting occurs.
Overall, Wyoming's management plan proposes to allow bears to expand into areas within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with an outer boundary running along the Wyoming highways at the edge of the ecosystem. The outer boundary runs from Cody south to Thermopolis and Shoshoni, and then west through Lander, Pinedale, LaBarge and Kemmerer.
The plan would not allow bears in the Big Horn Range, the Snowy Range or the Sierra Madres.
Game and Fish Department Wildlife Division Chief John Emmerich said the agency anticipates having a public comment period on the draft occupancy proposal run from Nov. 13 until Dec. 31.
Emmerich said the proposal was developed, in part, from an analysis that a Game and Fish internal working group made of available grizzly bear food sources and suitable habitats.
The analysis -- which also looked at existing human uses such as livestock allotments and developed recreational sites -- was used to help determine biologically suitable areas.
In other business, the commission will hear an update from Gov. Dave Freudenthal's brucellosis task force. The task force has been working since February to formulate short and long-term recommendations that will help restore Wyoming's federal brucellosis-free status the state lost earlier this year.
The commission will also hear a proposal from a resident sportsman asking the commission to consider a regulation that would govern the transport of deer and elk from chronic wasting disease areas. Two years ago, the department began a massive, statewide CWD surveillance program to track the spread of the disease in Wyoming.
The agency is sampling several thousand hunter-killed deer this fall as part of the program. CWD causes infected deer and elk to basically waste away and die. The brain-related ailment is 100 percent fatal to wildlife, but researchers say the risk, if any, of transmission to humans is low.
Other topics to be presented to the commission include an overview of federal and state wildlife grants; an "Adopt-a-Fishing Access" proposal; recognition of the Wyoming Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep; and a discussion of the 2-Shot Goose Hunt support for the Rawhide Habitat Management Area.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at (307) 875-5359 or at gearino@trib.com.
