Grizzly Bear Recovery
Cathedral Rock in the Bighorn Crags of the Salmon-Selway Ecosystem
Grizzly bears once roamed much of western North America. Grizzly bear populations were sharply reduced in number and range following European settlement. In fact, upon listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1974, fewer than 1000 bears existed in the lower 48 states. The situation has not changed appreciably since. Many areas from which grizzly bears were lost are substantially altered and no longer suitable for bears. Other areas are less degraded and plausibly could support significant numbers of bears.
Notable among these is the Salmon-Selway Ecosystem (SSE) in central Idaho. Grizzly bears were last documented in the SSE in the 1940s. In 1995, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service announced a plan to transplant 20-50 bears into the SSE over a 5-year period. The Bush administration subsequently tabled the plan. But it is only a matter of time before planning for reintroduction resumes or bears colonize the area naturally. Either way, grizzly bear recovery in the SSE would benefit greatly from a comprehensive, region-wide evaluation of bear food resources.
Our evaluation of grizzly bear habitat in the SSE will be based on a recent vegetation map produced by members of our team.
In this project, we will estimate the distribution and abundance of seasonally important bear foods (berries, white bark pine nuts, etc.). To do so we will use a recent vegetation map (PDF) of the ecosystem produced by members of our research team. Our objective is to predict seasonal concentrations of key bear foods and hence of bears and to identify likely travel corridors for bears moving between food concentrations. Such information will be basic to effective land use planning and recovery area design in the SSE.