April 28, 1999 Ravalli Republic article: Bring back the bears By BUDDY SMITH

This article is over a 1,000 words so CAG will be as brief as possible.

First of all, the environmental interest groups that have managed to capture federal government agencies are fighting an uphill battle in their attempt to exploit grizzly bears.

Larry Aumiller has lived with brown (grizzly) bears for nearly a quarter-century at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary in southeast Alaska. As refuge manager at the world famous viewing site, he's come closer to grizzlies than most care to imagine.

Aumiller was in Hamilton Friday talking about bear and human interaction during a slide show and discussion hosted by the Bitterroot Chapter of the Montana Audubon Society

The Bitterroot stop was the final leg of a tour sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation and the Defenders of Wildlife, two groups which support a plan to reintroduce grizzly bears in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

"We literally have to look both ways before stepping outside," Aumiller said of the unique living arrangement he shares with staff, visitors and a throng of resident Alaskan brown bears

In all, about 100 bears live at McNeil River, making the three- to four-mile stretch of water one of the densest brown bear populations in Alaska. From around the globe, tourists flock to the roadless area - about 250 air miles south of Anchorage - to view and photograph the bears feeding on summer salmon runs.

Despite having no barriers between humans and bears, a list of "dos and don'ts" and sound management practices have earned the famous site a perfect safety record. While at the falls, visitors are confined to a circular gravel viewing area, while bears roam freely, often coming within feet of the circle of camera lenses. At night, visitors sleep in tents about a half mile to two miles from areas frequented by the bears, although the bruins can pop up anywhere at the site.

The McNeil River bears have become tolerant to people through a process called habituation, Aumiller said. The most important covenant is to never let bears associate food with humans - at any time, he said. All food is kept in a cook shack to avoid attracting bears.

Those lucky enough to be drawn in a lottery come by float plane in groups of 10 and stay four days. They come for candid shots of Alaskan brown. bears and leave with photos that show just how close they came to the fierce animals.

Though bears can be seen most anytime, it's salmon that stirs the action at McNeil River. Whether pawing at them in the shallows or snapping jaws shut on them while they leap up the run, some bears gorge themselves on as many as 18 to 20 fish per day, while the camera shutters click.

"It's an incredible site... the whole thing comes alive just with the introduction of fish," Aumiller said.

The dams on the Columbia River system have stopped the possibility of salmon or steelhead spawning in the upper reaches of the SELWAY BITTERROOT ECOSYSTEM (SBE) thus eliminating another significant food source along with the whitebark pine nuts that traditionally were relied upon by  grizzly bears to fatten up for the winter hibernation and in some cases  made up 90% of their diet.

Short, H. and Hesbeck.1995. BioScience vol. 45, pages 535-539. Devoto. 1998. Journals of Lewis and Clark.  Lewis & Clark found no grizzlies while crossing the current SBE, yet the expedition found that grizzly bears were common along the Missouri & Teton Rivers on the east side.   The explorers had several close encounters with grizzlies in that part of Montana.   That they found no grizzly bears in the current SBE seems significant, especially on the return trip in June and July 1806.  At that time, if bears are present, they would have been more visible in the more open southerly slopes.  This involved the time when bears occur in aggressive pairs, as spring is breeding season.  In fact, they only were able to shoot a black bear that was in quite poor condition.

Though McNeil River's safety record is unblemished, all of Alaska is bear country and on average 1.2 maulings occur each year, resulting in about one death every third year. Aumiller said & with the intensely personal human bear; interaction at the refuge comes a low-level safety risk, Aumiller said, and success is based largely on humans tolerating some inconveniences while in bear country, but just in case, staff members do carry firearms though they've never had to use them.

A plan to introduce grizzly bears in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness would also require humans to learn how to live with bears, Aumiller said. Though the refuge is unique, he said lessons learned at the refuge are transferable anywhere. Successful interaction depends on doing the right things in bear country, according to Aumiller.

"It's a matter of increasing or decreasing your odds," he said.

While McNeil River is an ideal situation, Bitterroot residents wondering what life with grizzlies might be like should look closer to home for a model of coexistence, Aumiller said

If you can look at examples like Bob Marshall Wilderness you think about what they're doing and how they're doing it," Aumiller said.

The success - or lack of success of grizzlies in the lower 48 - is at a crossroads, according to Aumiller. He said he hoped action on reintroduction would be based on real information, rather than pure emotion.

Aumiller, who spent his youth in Colorado before the last grizzly was killed there, said reasons for preserving bears aren't yet fully known.

"We don't even know the benefits of a complete ecosystem," Aumiller said.

Aumiller was accompanied on the tour by Sterling Miller, a resource specialist with the National Wildlife Federation in Missoula and an advocate of reintroduction.

Before the presentation, Miller talked about the grizzly bear reintroduction plan and the final Environmental Impact Study, expected soon. According to Miller, residents living in areas that once held grizzly bears would - and could- learn once again how to live with bears over time.

"I think Montana and Idaho, the people who live there are - generally speaking - outdoor people," Miller said.

The preferred alternative for grizzly reintroduction, identified in the draft Environmental Impact Statement, would reintroduce three to five bears a year into the Selway-Bitterroot until they number 25. Those 25 bears would be watched for 10 years to determine whether or not reintroduction was successful.

A 15-member citizen committee appointed by the governors of Montana and Idaho in consultation with the Secretary of Interior would be given the power to manage the rein- troduction under the guidance of the secretary. The preferred alternative also designated the bears as experimental, which doesn't require full protection under the Endangered Species Act. Because the plan calls for reintroduction of a few bears a year over several years, Miller said people in the Selway-Bitterroot region would have time to learn about coexisting with bears. Miller, who worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for two decades, said about 25 brown bears commonly frequented an area near suburban Anchorage.

"Some of them never got into trouble and some of them did," Miller said. Those who did, he said, were removed or destroyed if necessary, as would be the case should bears wonder into the valley in search of food.

"The plan we support is a plan that would put the Bitterroot Valley off limits to grizzly bears," Miller said.

As for habitat in the Selway Bitterroot, according to Miller, five habitat studies of the region indicate adequate food supplies to support a grizzly bear population. A sixth study is on the way

Unlike coastal brown bears at McNeil River, which grow fat on chum salmon, "interior bears, such as would be released locally, typically are lower density, smaller size and are less productive than their fish-eating cousins, but they can survive, Miller said.

Aumiller headed back to Alaska this week, where he plans to continue brown bear research for many years to come. Recently, he co-authored and photographed the book, "River of Bear," which chronicles the McNeil River grizzlies. Aumiller said he takes a philosophical approach when it comes to the future of grizzly bears.

"When I think about an ecosystem that could have all the critters in it; I get excited," Aumiller said.

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