URGENT opportunity to take action for North Idaho Grizzlies!
Perhaps the most iconic and charismatic of all western wildlife species is the grizzly bear. Their size, power, and fierce independence stiffened the spines of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and their formidable presence commands unwavering attention by those that live and play in grizzly country today. That’s why it’s particularly ironic that the overall health of the species is still so much in jeopardy—primarily due to human-caused factors.
Grizzlies bears in the Northern Rockies have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1975. That action gave the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) primary responsibilities for grizzly management, including within six recovery zones in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Washington. Under the USFWS’ careful watch, grizzly populations have expanded from a few hundred bears over 50 years ago to approximately 2,200 today, representing a huge conservation success.
However, grizzlies occupy only the tiniest pieces of historic habitat in our state. ICL has long advocated for conservation measures that improve their status in North Idaho and that return grizzlies to the wild, unoccupied area of Idaho’s Bitterroots.
ICL has continued to remind federal and state managers that the foundation for grizzly recovery is the ability for bears to move between existing subpopulations in the Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak, Bitterroot, North Continental Divide (NCDE), and Yellowstone Ecosystems. We’re encouraged that current research shows that bears continue to close the distance between Yellowstone and North Continental Divide Ecosystems and are making periodic forays out of other core habitats.
However, the Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak (SCYE) area in parts of Idaho’s Panhandle, Montana, and Washington only holds an estimated 120 grizzlies—below the goals of the 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan.
In 2024, the Service released a comprehensive 2024 Species Status Assessment (SSA) for Northern Rockies grizzlies as the agency contemplated if and how to remove ESA protections for grizzlies. Key findings for SCYE bears were that the Service characterized resilience and genetic diversity for Cabinet-Yaak bears as “low”, and “moderate” for grizzlies in the Selkirk recovery zone. The SSA also looked at prospects for bears under future management scenarios where “conservation actions decrease significantly, largely through the termination…of plans or regulations, and the rate of private land development increases dramatically.” Given current Administration priorities, ICL believes this scenario is quite possible. Under those conditions, the report forecasted that resiliency of Selkirk bears would decline from “moderate” to “low”, and resiliency of the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly population would drop from “low” to “very low.”
Many factors currently prevent the full recovery of grizzlies in the Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak area. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC)—a leadership team from federal and state agencies that coordinates grizzly recovery—is now seeking public comment on a draft Conservation Strategy for reproduction, habitat, and mortality benchmarks in the Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak recovery zone.
Wildlife advocates in Idaho now have a very short window to submit comments to the IGBC to voice several concerns about the draft Conservation Strategy, such as the concerns we dive into below:
Incidental trapping and other human-caused mortalities in the SCYE
In recent years, grizzlies have experienced an outsized level of human-caused mortalities. Mortality rates—particularly among females—have been higher than levels allowed in current federal plans. This is unacceptable. At current SCYE population levels, the loss of even a single breeding female is significant. Current levels of human-caused grizzly mortality in the SCYE threaten to reverse painstakingly slow successes in that zone identified in the 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan.
The Service should not permit grizzly “take” from recreational pursuits that target wildlife in SCYE grizzly habitat. Any Conservation Strategy for Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak grizzlies must ensure that state management agencies, such as IDFG, ensure that trapping, snaring, and other hunting practices do not hamper grizzly bear restoration efforts. There have also been several unsettling instances of hunters mistaking grizzly bears for black bears. Despite long standing appeals from ICL and other conservation groups, IDFG has only made bear identification courses mandatory for hunters since the beginning of 2025. In recovery areas like the Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, where the occupancy rate of females is low, incidental take and species misidentification risks setting back recovery in the area for years.
Federal efforts to dismantle the Endangered Species Act
ICL also believes the timing to develop a Conservation Strategy for SCYE grizzlies is unfortunate. Unless recent court challenges successfully overturn new federal rulings to rescind the National Roadless Rule and critical habitat protections ensured by the ESA, core areas for Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak grizzlies would likely no longer be off-limits to development, resource extraction, and harmful recreational pressures. ICL is also extremely concerned about other proposed changes to the ESA’s 4(d) rule that govern permissions for legal “take” of an ESA-listed species.
Grizzly delisting efforts and state management
Idaho’s hostile predator policies don’t ensure a healthy future if the Administration succeeds in getting ESA protections lifted for all Northern Rockies grizzly bears. History has shown that Idaho’s legislature is openly hostile toward native predatory wildlife and our state’s wildlife managers haven’t drafted a grizzly bear management plan. The state also has no plan to dedicate funding for increased management activities associated with this proposed Conservation Strategy.
Additionally, the Conservation Strategy as drafted does not ensure vital genetic exchange through natural movement of grizzlies from Montana’s Northern Continental Divide area into Idaho’s precarious Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak population. There’s been only one documented instance of genetic exchange from the NCDE into the SCYE in 20 years of monitoring. This is especially troubling given grizzly bear management policy in Montana would “not actively manage for grizzly bear presence between core areas.”
ICL is also concerned that wildlife managers in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming could use discretionary authority to control populations if they wanted to minimize natural dispersal into under-occupied areas of the Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak recovery zone. Any Conservation Strategy provisions must ensure natural movement of bears into that recovery zone are allowed unless verified conflicts or human safety issues are documented.
Conflict avoidance
Nonlethal deterrence measures and food storage orders have proven effective at minimizing bear conflicts on public lands and with livestock operations. Yet, the Bureau of Land Management recently announced the agency would rescind their policy to issue food storage orders and simply make recommendations to the public recreating on those federal lands. The proper storage of food-based attractants is critical to avoid conflicts and levels of resentment that sometimes come with having large carnivores on Idaho landscapes. Federal and state agencies must prioritize resources for conflict management, especially for parts of Idaho in the SCYE grizzly bear recovery area.
Research and monitoring budgets
Finally, ICL continues to be very concerned about recent efforts of federal administrators to reduce or eliminate funding for ongoing and essential grizzly bear monitoring and evaluation. Agencies like the United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Park Service (NPS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and others have been indispensable to helping the IGBC monitoring demographics, movements, habitat, and genetic health of grizzlies. Any Conservation Strategy plan for the SCYE must include assurances of adequate financial resources.
Idaho’s rugged landscapes afford grizzly bears the promise of secure habitat and abundant food resources. USFWS and the Endangered Species Act afforded Idahoans the promise that grizzlies would once again occupy core areas in the Gem State. ICL encourages supporters of science-based grizzly recovery in Idaho to make your voice heard before the end of this very short public comment period.
Comments are due by 5pm PDT on Monday, August 24—so don’t wait to take action!