[MCN] A New Vision for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains bolsters support for a unified, interconnected grizzly bear population

[Matthew Koehler]

A New Vision for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains bolsters
support for a unified, interconnected grizzly bear population

Missoula, Montana—Today, several conservation organizations and grizzly
bear proponents released their vision that bolsters support for a unified
grizzly bear population within the Northern Rockies—offering a holistic
framework for recovery, management, and sustainable coexistence between
bears and people.

Titled “A New Vision for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Northern Rockies
<https://wildernesswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/New-vision-for-grizzly-bear-recovery-in-the-northern-rocky-mountains-FINAL.pdf>,”
the report from nine conservation groups provides a list of actions,
policies, and practices to address human conflicts, and offers
recommendations for improving and protecting grizzly bear habitat. The
report also promotes stewardship and protection of private lands, ways to
fix inadequate governance, and adapting grizzly bear recovery efforts to
climate change.

The report identifies the following as major threats to grizzly bear
survival and recovery:

   -

   Increases in human conflicts; people account for 85 percent of all
   grizzly deaths.
   -

   Declines in essential food sources resulting from climate change and
   habitat loss.
   -

   Lack of secure habitat for explorer bears seeking new habitat, dens,
   mates, and food sources.
   -

   Sprawling development, which has ballooned in recent years causing loss
   of open space and habitat connectivity.


Endorsed by 48 organizations and individuals
<https://wildernesswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/FINAL-endorsers-griz-vision.pdf>,
the vision emphatically supports maintaining grizzly bears’ threatened
status under the Endangered Species Act in the lower 48 states, and
recognizes that true recovery requires protected habitats that connect
isolated populations into a single population to ensure grizzlies can
thrive for centuries to come. The new vision aims to fully recover the
Northern Rockies population so that it can be a source population of
dispersers for aiding recovery in additional suitable habitats.

“This visionary document should transform how we treat grizzly bears and
their ecosystems. Today, grizzlies are relegated to vulnerable ecological
islands in the Northern Rockies in just 3 to 4 percent of their former
range in the lower 48 because of excessive killing and habitat
destruction,” said Louisa Wilcox, Co-Founder of Grizzly Times
<https://www.grizzlytimes.org/>. “The Great Bear has long symbolized
renewal and transformation and deserves the respectful approach taken
here—and a real shot at flourishing in a rapidly changing world.”

The vision emphasizes the importance of a unified Northern Rockies Recovery
Area to help grizzly bears adapt to the predictable impacts of climate
change, including shifting food sources and the ever increasing human
footprint on the landscape.

“At long last we have a blueprint for true grizzly bear recovery and
co-existence with people based on the best available scientific information
rather than political expediency,” said Mike Bader, an independent
consultant in Missoula who studies grizzly bear habitat needs.

The vision calls for managing grizzly bears as one population, including
the core populations in  recovery zones
<https://wildernesswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/New-vision-for-grizzly-bear-recovery-in-the-northern-rocky-mountains-FINAL.pdf>
the
government established in 1983, and the suitable habitats on public lands
and private lands with conservation easements.

“Grizzly bears were never meant to stay within 'official' government
boundaries, and our vision reflects the evolving science showing true
recovery requires new thinking and forward-looking management,” said Adam
Rissien, ReWilding Manager with WildEarth Guardians. “People broadly
support grizzly bear recovery, even if that means changing decad's-old
expectations that anti-wildlife lawmakers and bureaucrats still cling to."

“If we take seriously the grizzly bear's natural right to exist and
flourish, we must offer a serious recovery vision that reflects those
values and the scientific realities underpinning healthy, thriving grizzly
populations. This new vision does just that,” said George Nickas, Executive
Director of Wilderness Watch.

“Efforts to recover grizzlies by government agencies in places like the
Yaak have been failing spectacularly,” said Rick Bass, director of the Yaak
Valley Forest Council. “We need something dramatically different, and this
vision document is a fine start.”

One of the vision’s key goals is reestablishing grizzly bears in the
Bitterroot Ecosystem, which is vital to recovery in the Northern Rockies.
"The Bitterroot Ecosystem is essential to the long term survival of grizzly
bears and critical to recovery throughout the Northern Rockies. It provides
core habitat and serves as an essential area of connectivity for bears
migrating from other recovery areas such as the Greater Yellowstone and
Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems," said Jim Miller, President,
Friends of the Bitterroot.

“According to a 2001 study, the Clearwater River drainage in Idaho has the
largest concentration of the best grizzly habitat in the U.S.
Northern-Canadian Southern Rockies," said Jeff Juel, Friends of the
Clearwater Forest Policy Director. "Our vision is the only way to ensure
that the natural recovery of grizzlies, which has recently begun, will
continue in the Clearwater and the rest of the Bitterroot Ecosystem."

The vision emphasizes the need to reduce conflicts with livestock owners,
calling for non-lethal deterrents, and retiring livestock grazing
authorizations on public lands. The vision recommends changes in state
management practices including prohibiting the hunting of grizzly bears,
changes in trapping and snaring regulations, banning the use of baits to
attract bears, and the hunting of bears with hounds. It would also require
users of grizzly bear habitat to carry bear spray.

"The threats grizzlies face require firm action to protect the lands and
the foods they depend on, without which we will surely see their numbers
dwindle once again," says Kristin Combs, Executive Director of Wyoming
Wildlife Advocates. "Wildlife managers should focus on implementing tools
and providing assistance to residents that help people learn how to live
alongside the great bear. The future of grizzly bears and our wide open
spaces depend on it."

The report, A New Vision for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Northern Rockies,
is available here:

https://wildernesswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/New-vision-for-grizzly-bear-recovery-in-the-northern-rocky-mountains-FINAL.pdf



*Contacts:*
Adam Rissien, WildEarth Guardians, 406-370-3147,
arissien at wildearthguardians.org
Rick Bass, Yaak Valley Forest Council, 406-291-5338, rickbass27 at gmail.com
Kristin Combs, Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, 307-413-4116,
kristin at wyomingwildlifeadvocates.org
Dana Johnson, Wilderness Watch, 208-310-7003 danajohnson at wildernesswatch.org
Mike Bader, Independent Consultant, 406-721-4835, mbader7 at charter.net



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