August 10, 1999 Ravalli Republic Article: Bitterroot grizzly reintroduction plan, delayed again. by Ken Dey.
Deadlines have come and gone and there is still no sign of the final environmental impact statement on grizzly bear reintroduction in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service predicted the EIS would be out in March. Then it was pushed back to May. Then it was again pushed back to the first part of August.
Now, according to Laird Robinson, reintroduction team public affairs officer, the release date of the final EIS is still up in the air.
"We have no firm dates yet; it's up to the review process in Washington, D.C.," Robinson said.
Before the final EIS can be released to the public, it has to go to the agency's regional office in Denver and the office of Jamie Rappaport Clarke, agency director, in Washington, D.C, for comment, Robinson said.
That was done earlier this summer and the comments from both offices were received and are in the process of being incorporated into the final EIS.
Once the agency comments are included and the reintroduction team gets the approval from the director's office, the document will be printed and available at public libraries in the reintroduction area and sent to everyone on the agency's mailing list, Robinson said.
"Once we get the green light we will go to the printer," Robinson said.
Once the document is released, the public will have 30 days to comment. The public comments will then be compiled and sent to Ralph Morgenweck, the agency's regional director. Morgenweck will decide which alternative is appropriate for reintroduction and sign a record of decision clearing the way for reintroduction to begin.
CAG Comments
Once the EIS is released for comment it will be too late. A judge ordered the names of respondents be released and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee appealed that decision.
CAG should immediately get an injunction to stop progress on releasing the EIS until the issue of name release is settled.
End CAG Comments
Morgenweck will choose from several alternatives, including two that would reintroduce bears and two that would not reintroduce bears.
But it's likely he will opt for the agency's preferred alternative, which would reintroduce three to five bears a year in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness until the animals number 25.
Those 25 bears would be watched for 10 years to determine whether or not reintroduction was successful. The reintroduction would be managed by a group of citizens appointed by the secretary of the interior in consultation with the governors of Idaho and Montana.
Reintroduction of the bears has been an ongoing proposal since the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness was first identified as suitable habitat in 1991. Grizzly bear recovery in the Bitterroot was first discussed in 1991 with the agency's release of its initial grizzly bear recovery plan, which identified the Selway-Bitterroot as possible habitat.
During the rest of the 1980s, the area was evaluated for habitat and surveyed for any remaining grizzly bear population. The agency failed to find any bears but did suggest the habitat could support a population between 200 and 400 bears.