Louisa Willcox: Hope of recovery of grizzly bears in central Idaho is not lost
It is growing increasingly obvious the major threat to grizzly bears is lack of habitat. As the quality of their food sources declines, the same amount of country will support fewer bears. As a result they range more widely and get into trouble as Western development continues to expand into their habitat.
Well there’s not much that can be done about that, right?
Wrong. There’s central Idaho, a huge grizzlyless expanse full of good habitat and not many people. Plans were to begin to restore them them to the area in the early 1990s. Then came governor Dirk Kempthorne, a man of almost no outdoor experience. He protested so loudly about the danger they posed, almost as if they would attack his home in Boise that the plans to restore them were shelved. Now he is Secretary of Interior, but this awful regime will only last one more year, then maybe things can get back on track.
With grizzlies occasionally migrating to the area, Louisa Willcox writes that there is hope yet.
Louisa Willcox: Hope of recovery of grizzly bears is not lost

Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
3 Responses to Louisa Willcox: Hope of recovery of grizzly bears in central Idaho is not lost
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 928 other subscribersRecent Posts
- Time to Reevaluate Notion That Oregon’s Rivers Are A Faucet For Agriculture January 27, 2023
- Indian Influence On The Extinction of Bison In Southeast Idaho and Adjacent Areas January 27, 2023
- Chaparral and Wildfire January 25, 2023
- Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy January 25, 2023
- More wildfire misinformation from UC Davis January 21, 2023
Recent Comments
- Jerry L Thiessen on Indian Influence On The Extinction of Bison In Southeast Idaho and Adjacent Areas
- Jeff Hoffman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Deane Rimerman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Jeff Hoffman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Deane Rimerman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Jeff Hoffman on Chaparral and Wildfire
- Jeff Hoffman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Deane Rimerman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Ida Lupine on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Maximilian S Werner on Indian Influence On The Extinction of Bison In Southeast Idaho and Adjacent Areas
- Jeff Hoffman on Time to Reevaluate Notion That Oregon’s Rivers Are A Faucet For Agriculture
- Jeff Hoffman on Indian Influence On The Extinction of Bison In Southeast Idaho and Adjacent Areas
- Jeff Hoffman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Ida Lupine on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
- Deane Rimerman on Wildfire–Road Removal A More Effective Wildfire Strategy
Lets not stop at Central Idaho, lets get some grizzlies in Southwest Idaho too.
Let’s let a few wander over to Washington State too.
And Oregon too. That will give the wolf haters over there more to complain about…..sorry i know this is off topic.