Grizzly bear is back - or was it ever gone?

Extensive study shows plenty of them in Montana

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 17, 2008

WASHINGTON

The grizzly bear, once king of the Western wilderness but threatened with extinction for 30 years, has roared back in Montana.

The finding, from a $4.8 million, five-year study of grizzly bear DNA could help ease restrictions on oil and gas drilling, logging and other development.

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey said yesterday that there are about 760 bears in northwestern Montana. That is the largest population of grizzly bears documented there in more than 30 years, and a sign that the species could at long last be recovering.

The study -- the first scientific census -- shattered earlier estimates that said that there were 250 to 350 bears roaming an 8-million-acre area stretching from north of Missoula to the Canadian border. More recent data placed the minimum population at about 560 bears.

"This is 2 1/2 times the number of bears previously estimated," said Katherine Kendall, the lead researcher, who said that the results speak for themselves. "There is no evidence that the population size was ever severely reduced."

Montana ranchers, farmers and Republican leaders pushed for the study as a step toward taking the grizzly bears off the endangered-species list. Since 1975, the bear has been threatened in the lower 48 states, a status that bars hunting and restricts development that can diminish its population.

Last year, after more than 30 years of research, the grizzly population around Yellowstone National Park was deemed recovered.

Former Montana Gov. Judy Martz, a Republican, said that the bear had been used to block the use of the state's abundant natural resources, when all along the animal was plentiful.

"If it is going to remove it from the list, it is money well-spent," Martz said.