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2005 Newsletter Features:
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Grizzly
Bear Update....
First, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) withdrew its proposed oil and gas leases in the Blackleaf area of the Rocky Mountain Front near Glacier Park, as a result of a major public outcry. This spectacular landscape has been called “America’s Serengeti” as it provides essential habitat for grizzlies, wolves, elk and many other species. Using its e-activism program, NRDC was responsible for delivering over 37,000 comments to the BLM - the lion’s share of comments received by the Agency. While the battle is far from over and the Front is not yet safe from development, the win was important and sent a strong signal to the oil and gas industry that the public is staunchly opposed to energy development in this world-class area. It also galvanized a strong response from key Montana decision-makers who are now working to craft a buy-out strategy for existing leases to facilitate permanent protection of the Front. In addition, in October, Bridger Teton National Forest officials decided not to lease nearly 160,000 acres of wild country in the Wyoming Range. This fabulous habitat is now being recolonized by grizzlies and wolves. On both campaigns, NRDC participated in effective and diverse coalitions, which included conservationists, businessmen, ranchers, and Native Americans.
For more information visit www.nrdc.org |
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The
Arthur 
Despite
a hostile political climate, we have scored some recent significant
victories, strengthened our efforts and raised public awareness of the
conservation problems facing the region through effective work in the
media.
One
of the NRDC’s primary areas of focus, in recent months, has been
to draft Forest Service blueprints to manage grizzlies in the six national
forests around Yellowstone, if and when grizzlies are removed from Endangered
Species Act protections (or delisted). Instead, grizzlies need to obtain
seasonal foods, avoid inbreeding and survive natural disasters. The
Forest Service proposal would serve to isolate bears to an island of
habitat that is much smaller than where bears live now. Because of weak
protections afforded on national forest lands, escalating pressure for
energy and other types of development, as well as diseases in native
foods, the current grizzly bear habitat will undoubtedly shrink in the
future unless the government pursues dramatically different policies.
The NRDC argues that the best solutions are to protect remaining roadless
country, and to ensure that bears in Yellowstone stay connected to other
bear populations in the United States and adjacent ecosystems in Canada.
By
contrast, the state of Wyoming’s approach to bear management has
taken a turn for the worse in recent months. Wyoming Fish and Game Department
recently proposed dropping the Wyoming Range and southern Wind Rivers
from its bear management area. And, the agency is pushing to raise or
eliminate bear mortality limits in the state where more grizzly bears
have been killed than any other state in the Greater Yellowstone in
recent years. 
Unfortunately,
despite these efforts, grizzly mortality went through the roof last
year. Tragically, most of the deaths were preventable, involving garbage-related
conflicts and habituated bears. In the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem
(NCDE), a record number of grizzlies were killed with 26 dead so far.
In both ecosystems, (Yellowstone and NCDE) allowable mortality limits
for females have been violated. In the NCDE, the problems are exacerbated
by a massive failure of the berry crop. The document released by NRDC
“Bear with Us, An Alternative Path to Grizzly Recovery in the
Lower 48 States”, has been well received by agencies and other
decision makers. They will continue to use this document to reshape
current policies affecting grizzly bears in the region.
In
sum, the NRDC has made significant headway over the last five months
in garnering public support for bears and their ecosystems, and in beating
back harmful oil and gas development proposals. We are more fully integrating
our work with other NRDC programs, which has in turn, improved the effectiveness
of the Wild Bears Project and the conservation work in the Northern
Rockies.