Sprawl: Threat to griz habitat

November 23, 1999 Missoulian article: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) Sprawl biggest threat to griz habitat, group says.

CAG Comment

This article talks about 'sprawl and how it is a threat to grizzly bear habitat.

Where can you find more 'sprawl' that in Ravalli and Missoula counties, not to mention counties in Idaho that surround the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Wildernesses.

Federal agencies such as the USFWS, USFS, BLM, have been captured by environmental interest groups such as Friends of the Bitterroot, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, (to name a few) want to put grizzly bears into wildernesses that have lost their prime food sources for grizzly bears.

The present administration has extended to the interest groups mentioned above immunity from lawsuits resulting from their actions.

Doesn't make sense does it.

End CAG Comment

Sprawl biggest threat to griz habitat, group says

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. Development in the 20 Wyoming, Montana and Idaho counties that surround Yellowstone National Park is the fastest growing threat to potential key grizzly bear habitat, according to the Sierra Club.

The environmental group's recently released report on key habitat threats to Yellowstone's grizzly bears said millions of acres of potential grizzly bear habitat are at risk to sprawl and overdevelopment, clear-cutting and road building, and oil and gas

development.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are trying to keep grizzlies from losing federal protection under the Endangered Species Act and are

working to increase the size of its · range. The population of grizzlies

has increased to an estimated 400 to 600 in the Yellowstone area, prompting calls for the bear to be de-listed.

Louisa Willcox, Sierra Club Grizzly Bear ecosystems project coordinator, said the report finds that within habitat currently used

by bears, about 5 million acres of federal lands arc protected and 3.5 million acres are not.

Willcox said the report also argues that the four key grizzly food sources - Yellowstone cutthroat trout. army cutworm moths, white bark pine nuts and bison - are at some level of risk to introduced species and diseases, climate changes and "poor management programs."

She said of particular concern in the report is health of white bark pine habitat, which is increasingly infected with blister rust, an introduced pathogen.

The report said "significant losses of critical food sources" within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are anticipated within the next few decades. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem consists of parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

From 1975 to 1998, 15 percent of all grizzly deaths have occurred outside of the recovery zone, the study noted.

The Sierra Club report analyzed water well and septic permits along with other state and county data during the last two decades.

Other threats to grizzly bear habitat listed in the research report includes:

Clear-cutting and road building, which the study said increases the potential [or grizzly mortality and reduces the ability of bears to use areas important to their survival.]
Oil and gas development in prime grizzly bear habitat. The report noted that according to current figures, more than 5 million acres on the five national forests in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem could be opened to leasing and development for oil and gas.
Off-road vehicle use, which the study said has shown a dramatic increase in grizzly.bear habitat across the Gallatin National Forest in Montana. The report said vehicles such as snowmobiles can increase grizzly mortality by increasing the chance for human-bear conflicts.
Highway expansion on the Union Pass, Togwotee and Beartooth highways. The expansion of road systems in the area, the report said, can cause increasing fragmentation of bear habitat, the displacement of bears and increased grizzly mortality.

Willcox said the report concluded that until strong habitat standards to protect grizzlies are in place, removing the safety net of the Endangered Species Act is premature.

Delisting, the study said, will only lead to more commercial development on national forest lands and the destruction of grizzly bear habitat.

CAG Comment

These environmental types talk like commerical development is a dirty word. CAG does not see many of them refusing to use the products of commerical development.

End CAG Comment

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