Is the move out of the mountains due to the long winter and wet spring?
We’ve been talking about grizzly south of Interstate 90 in Idaho, but a more obvious movement is the presence of two or more grizzly bears out on the plains, well east of the Rocky Mountain front.
Young grizzlies push farther eastward. By Michael Babcock. Tribune Outdoor Editor • Great Falls Tribune.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time 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.
The pic at the link is amazing – two young grizz in a wide open field. Obviously, any country that can support grizz still wandering out into the prairie is pretty special.
As the Craigheads and Chuck Jonkel pointed out decades ago–the habitat is there for grizzlies, what’s lacking is the political and social will to accomodate bears.
Such a great thing to see. It is nice to see parts of the old west returning. Kind of like seeing elk on a grassland, you get a glimpse of what it was like when Lewis and Clark were there. I sure hope some crackpot doesn’t shoot them. Did anyone read the comment in the article about bears showing up on 10th street in Great Falls. Too bad this Manifest Destiny crap is still alive and well. Nice to see that grizzlies are expanding into the prairies and into range in Idaho they haven’t been to in decades. Nature can heal itself when given the chance, but I still think reintroductions are necessary in other places.