Name: Grizzly Bear (photo: USFWS/ Don Redfearn)
(Ursus arctos)
Status: State
Endangered (WA), State Threatened (ID), Federal Threatened
Listed: March
11, 1967
Description: Large
brown bear with signifying humped shoulders
Threats: Loss
of habitat, hunting
Overview: The
grizzly bear, so named for the grizzled appearance of its silvery brown fur,
used to range over most of North America west of the Great Plains. Today,
its range in the lower 48 states has shrunk to parts of the Northern Rockies
and North Cascades, which amounts to less than 2% of the lands it had historically
occupied. Both cherished as a symbol and feared as a predator, the
grizzly bear has been the subject of a number of debates on how we should
manage our remaining wilderness areas. Grizzly bear populations in
Washington are rare but a limited number are still present. Currently very
small populations are found in the North Cascades and Selkirk ecosystems,
otherwise this species has been extirpated from the state. Grizzly bear rely on
one of the largest home range areas of all land animals, between 300 to 1000
square miles. Due to this immense range of habitat which is mostly made up of
upper elevation forested wild lands and because of the fact that migration
often crosses international boundaries, precise population trends in WA and ID are
currently unknown. What is known is that according to the USFWS (U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Services) between 1800 and 1975, populations in the lower 48 states
dropped from an estimate of more than 50,000 to less than 1,000. Three regions which contain grizzlys
cross the Idaho border, the Selkirk, Cabinet-Yaak, and Yellowstone ecosystems. You can read current information on
grizzly bear distribution in Idaho on the Craighead Environmental Research
Institute website @ http://www.grizzlybear.org/gbmap/idmap.html.
The last grizzly bear in Oregon
was shot in 1931.
The recovery plans for Washington grizzly populations focus on
maintaining suitable habitat, and minimizing bear and human contacts. Augmentation
of the Washington population has not yet been seriously considered but is
recommended for Manning Providential Park in British Columbia just north of the
US border. The current proposal to
reintroduce five grizzly bears each year for the next ten years was recommended
by the North Cascades Grizzly Bear Recovery Team made up of representatives
from agencies on both sides of the border. You can read more about the recovery plan for the North
Cascades @ http://www.elp.gov.bc.ca/wld/grzz/index.htm.
In Idaho debate continues on if the US Fish and Wildlife Service should augment
the grizzly bear population in the Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem. In June 2001 the Secretary of the
Interior, Gail Norton, announced she was abandoning the proposal to release
more bears in Idaho and replace it with a “no action” plan. For more information on the reintroduction proposal and
additional information about grizzly bear ecology check out the USFWS’s page @ http://species.fws.gov/bio_griz.html
or the North Cascades' page @ http://www.nps.gov/noca/treas4-6.htm.
Click on map to Enlarge
Distribution: Grizzly
bears are found in the Selkirk Mountains in the north east corner of Washington
and in the North Cascades. Some sightings have occurred as far south as Mt.
Rainier National Park. In Idaho, Yellowstone has the largest population of
grizzlies, followed by the Selkirks and Cabinet/Yaak. Some sightings have
been documented in the Bitterroot ecosystem, but they remain unconfirmed.
Historically, grizzly bears ranged throughout most of these states.
Currently, we have no map data for grizzly
bear sightings in Idaho.
Last updated October 11, 2001
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