Another hazzard on U.S. 93: Grizzlies crossing

PABLO - A vehicle on U.S. 93 hit and killed a grizzly bear last week just north of Ninepipes Lodge, tribal officials reported Monday - the first highway fatality for a grizzly in recent memory on the Flathead Reservation.

Dale Becker, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes wildlife program manager, said the dead bear was a subadult female, probably one of two bears that repeatedly had visited a shelterbelt north of Ninepipe Reservoir in the last few weeks.

"We trapped one bear which was a young male, and relocated that one back to the Mission Mountains," Becker said. But two separate bears were sighted in the area. A culvert trap was still set up to capture the other bear, presumably the female that ultimately was struck by the car, but the trapping effort was unsuccessful.

Becker said neither grizzly was a "problem" bears. They had not been harassing livestock or raiding garbage or dog food containers. Both were under 2 years old. The female weighed about 150 pounds; not fat, but in good, healthy condition.

"The shelter belts are certainly good cover, and they can forage around and find aquatic plants," he said. "But the thing we do worry about is there is plenty of potential for accidental confrontation. The other concern is a bear being hit on the highway."

The shelter belts are west of Highway 93 along Duck Road, one mile north of Ninepipes Lodge, however, and the bears must traverse the busy highway going to and returning from Ninepipes to their secure homes in the Mission Mountains Wilderness.

The car-bear collision occurred about midnight June 14 just north of Ninepipes Lodge. No information was available about who was driving the vehicle, or if there was substantial damage to the vehicle or any injuries.

Becker said a large adult male grizzly was reported prowling in the Post Creek area a few miles to the south about the same time the two younger, smaller grizzlies were spotted. "If there was indeed a male in the Post Creek area, these guys may have moved out away from that area for safety," he said. Full-size male grizzlies will attack younger, smaller bears and sometimes kill them.

Becker said it was particularly unfortunate that the dead bear was a female. "We have lost two breeding females over the last five years," he said. One was shot in the Post Creek area and one, a female with cubs, was shot by a pheasant hunter in the Ninepipe public hunting area, when he surprised the bear and its cubs in the brush, and it charged.

The number of grizzlies at any one time in the Mission Mountains Wilderness between the Mission Valley and Swan Valley is unknown, but at least 15 different bears had been documented in recent years, and the total number likely is more than that.

The Mission bears are not isolated. There is interchange between the Bob Marshall Wilderness grizzly populations and those in the Missions. A South Fork Flathead radio-collared bear, for example, was traced into the Mission Mountains in recent years.

But the death of a female bear from other than natural causes is always a concern, especially an adult mother bear.

"They've been around, they've got knowledge, and they've raised cubs. Had this fatality not happened, this young grizzly might have lived and become a breeding female," Becker said. Female grizzlies typically do not reach breeding age until they are about 5 years old. Last year, the tribal wildlife office investigated the possibility of obtaining some adult healthy females with no bad habits to augment the Mission Wilderness breeding population. But the effort was not successful, because no appropriate bears became available, Becker said.

Wildlife officials say this has been an active season for bear activity. As of last week, five bears of all species had been trapped in the Mission Valley and removed to more isolated spots in the Missions to the east.