Local Outreach Project Promotes Understanding of Grizzly Bears

Nan Laney is the Skagit and Whatcom County field coordinator for the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project. She can be contacted at nlaney@ fidalgo.net or (360) 856-5076.

Over that last 200 years, the number of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states has declined from an estimated 50,000–100,000 to about 1,100 bears. Remarkably, both the range and number of grizzly bears have been reduced by over 98 percent.

Historically, grizzly bear populations declined due to commercial trapping (there was a bounty on hides), hunting and habitat loss. Hudson Bay trapping records show that 3,788 grizzly bear hides were shipped from trading posts in the North Cascades area between 1827 and 1859. The current North Cascades grizzly bear population is very small, in part because this species has a very slow reproductive rate. Grizzly bears are the second slowest reproducing land mammal in North America, with muskox being slowest.

Following the 1975 Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states as a “threatened” species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified six ecosystems in four states (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington) as grizzly bear recovery areas. Two recovery areas are partly or entirely contained within Washington state; the Selkirk Grizzly Bear Recovery Area, which includes part of Northeast Washington and the northern Idaho panhandle, and the North Cascades Recovery Area.

The North Cascades Grizzly Bear Recovery Area is the largest of the six recovery areas. It encompasses nearly 10,000 square miles from the Canadian border to Interstate 90, and roughly follows the U.S. Forest Service boundaries on the eastern and western slopes of the North Cascades. About 90 percent of the recovery area is either state or federal land.

Fewer than 20 grizzly bears exist in Washington’s North Cascades. In contrast, there are about 6,000 black bears in the North Cascades, and about 20,000-25,000 black bears in Washington State. Black bears have a higher reproductive rate and are a more adaptable species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the agency that oversees ESA grizzly bear recovery, will likely consider grizzly bears “recovered” in the North Cascades and remove them from ESA listing when the population reaches between 200 and 400 bears. However, an environmental impact statement (EIS) will have to be completed before any bears are brought into Washington’s North Cascades to augment the small existing population.

The EIS process involves a number of opportunities for public comment on an array of alternatives, ranging from a “no action” alternative to alternatives involving more active measures such as population augmentation. Although a lawsuit has been filed by Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and Defenders of Wildlife in an attempt to have the USFWS initiate the EIS process, it is not clear when or if an EIS will be begin. Even with a final EIS, the estimated time required for full recovery is up to 100 years.

While humans may recognize political boundaries, bears do not. British Columbia’s North Cascades has about 17 grizzly bears, as well as a grizzly bear recovery area on their side of the border. British Columbia’s recovery area is contiguous with Washington’s, and encompasses about 6,000 square miles (making the total ecosystem on both sides of the border about 16,000 square miles—an area a little larger than Vermont).

Canada is moving forward with active recovery measures in British Columbia’s North Cascades, which will likely include the addition of a small number of bears (around five or six) into their recovery ecosystem starting in 2005. Candidate bears were radio-collared this fall in Wells Gray Provincial Park, and these bears will be carefully monitored before a few are selected for movement next year.

Confirmed grizzly bear observations and verified field sign are relatively rare in the North Cascades, although around a dozen people report sightings annually. Many people do not realize the importance of promptly reporting sightings to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s reporting hotline at 1-888-WOLF-BEAR.

A few of the relatively local confirmed grizzly bear sightings include: a confirmed sighting on the southern slopes of Glacier Peak in 2001, and verified tracks near Thunder Creek in 1991 and Bacon Peak in 1989. More recently—although outside of the recovery area—a rancher observed a grizzly bear that left scat, tracks and hair near Chesaw, Okanogan County, in May 2003, and this sign was confirmed through DNA analysis.

Black bears and grizzly bears are omnivorous and very opportunistic—meaning that they eat a variety of foods depending on availability. Plants make up about 90 percent of the diet of both interior black bears and grizzly bears. A bear’s diet changes seasonally—from grasses, sedges and other annual and perennial plants to carrion, fungi roots and bulbs, insects (such as ants and hornets), berries, and spawning salmon.

Grizzly bears are indicators of large-scale ecosystem health, and require significant swaths of land for their home range. Females generally require between 50–300 square miles and males between 200–500 square miles. While grizzly bears can cover a lot of ground over the course of a year in their search for food, individual bears’ ranges overlap considerably, with several bears often sharing the same geographic area.

Both black bears and grizzly bears are extremely smart, with bears often ranked third in terms of intelligence—behind primates (which includes humans) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins). They quickly learn, and remember for many years, the location of human food and garbage sources.

As such, it’s extremely important to keep nonnatural attractants away from bears, including: human, pet, bird and livestock food, garbage, ripe fruit, bee hives and dead livestock. Conflicts between people and bears occur each year when bears are drawn near residences and into communities by these attractants.

In early 2005, a Bear Smart program will begin in several communities east of Highway 9 in Skagit and Whatcom Counties. The focus of the Bear Smart program is to work with community members to identify ways to minimize conflicts between people and bears. The program will be guided by community members, and will include informational materials and presentations.

The Bear Smart program is being sponsored by the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project (GBOP), an independent education and information project working in Washington’s North Cascades. The GBOP provides information about grizzly bear and black bear biology, behavior and identification, ways to successfully coexist with bears, and the grizzly bear recovery process in Washington’s North Cascades. The project is supported by federal, state and local governmental and nongovernmental contributors.

The project is very interested in hearing from community members who would like to become involved with the Bear Smart program and the GBOP, or who have information that they can share regarding human-bear conflicts in our area. For more information, go to the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project’s Web site at: http://www.bearinfo.org. §