News Release
For more Information Contact: Will Boyd, Friends of the Clearwater, (208) 882-9755
September 10, 2007
Local Conservationists Demand Changes to Preserve the Clearwater's Grizzlies
Last week's killing of a grizzly bear on the Clearwater National Forest in the Kelly Creek Roadless Area, an area proposed for wilderness by conservationists and the US Forest Service, prompted Friends of the Clearwater to demand action from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
There have been persistent reports of grizzly in the North Fork Clearwater and Selway- Bitterroot Wilderness since they supposedly disappeared in the mid-1900s.
The letter gives a brief background of persistent and reliable grizzly reports from the Clearwater basin (North Fork, Lochsa, and Selway). Its purpose is to prod the US Fish and Wildlife Service into action to protect grizzlies and their habitat in the region.
Gary Macfarlane of Friends of the Clearwater said, “The Fish and Wildlife Service, for crass political reasons, never took seriously the reliable information that grizzly bears are still found in the Clearwater in the North Fork and Selway country.
We predicted that it would take such a tragedy to wake up the agency. It is a sad statement that little or
nothing has been done to date to protect and recover grizzlies in what the Fish and Wildlife Service calls the Bitterroot Ecosystem.”
The letter points out the Fish and Wildlife Service has an obligation under the Endangered Species Act.
Will Boyd, Friends of the Clearwater?s Education Director, noted, “The huge number of black bear permits, the long seasons, and the fact that baiting and hounding are allowed in hunting black bears makes it even more likely tragedies like this will happen in the future. The Fish and Wildlife Service and Idaho Department of Fish and Game must change black bear hunting policies to make them friendly to grizzly recovery.”
Boyd concluded by saying, “The Clearwater country is northern half of the Big Wild, the largest relatively intact ecosystem remaining in the lower 48 states. Grizzly bears are an integral part of this wild region. It is past time the wildlife agencies take action to protect grizzlies and their habitat in the Clearwater.”
