Bitterroot Citizen Task News Today

A federal court on Tuesday mostly upheld a judge’s decision last fall to limit Montana’s wolf trapping and snaring season to six weeks in January and February over what he said was the potential for grizzly bears to incidentally get caught in the traps in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The 9th Circuit Court […] The post 9th Circuit upholds length-of-season restrictions for Montana wolf trapping, snaring appeared first on Daily Montanan.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is mulling ideas for grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem following a public scoping period that closed last month.

A report from January 2024 by a couple of conservation groups estimates female grizzly bears could reach the Bitterroot Ecosystem in as few as 3.7 years given the number of cubs they have every year, distances between recovery zones, denning habitats, and location of routes with berries bears like to eat.

On paper, the federal government is trying to figure out whether to restore grizzly bears to the Bitterroot Ecosystem, but the bears appear to have their own plans. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is mulling ideas for grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem following a public scoping period that closed last month. The ecosystem […] The post Report: Female grizzly bears could be in Bitterroot Ecosystem in four years appeared first on Daily Montanan.

Report: Female grizzly bears could be in Bitterroot Ecosystem in four years

Environmental groups have submitted an alternative for grizzly reintroduction in the Bitterroot as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers the impacts of bringing the species back to the ecosystem.

The new report estimates natural grizzly emigration from northern Montana to the Bitterroot will result in a breeding population forming in the next several years.

One way or another, grizzly bears are expected to begin fully returning to the Bitterroot Ecosystem within the next decade.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will take a new look at long-shelved efforts to recover grizzly bear populations in central Idaho wilderness areas.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday took a skeptical view of an injunction issued by a federal judge last year, which prohibited wolf trapping in a broad swath of Western Montana.