SEATTLE - With the addition of food-storage lockers to the Colville National Forest, campers will be able to deter grizzly bears - and in turn, avoid conflict with the vulnerable species.
Groups have teamed up with the 1.5 million-acre forest in northeast Washington to install 20 steel boxes for food, to help keep grizzlies from being attracted to campsites.
Michael Borysewicz, a wildlife biologist who works for the U.S. Forest Service at the forest, said they've been installing lockers for about a decade and campers find them very convenient.
"What we've noticed when we put a locker in a given campsite is that the number of incidents of improperly stored food by campers goes down pretty dramatically," said Borysewicz.
The groups Defenders of Wildlife, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee and Scenic Canyons Recreation Services are funding the lockers, and all of them should be installed by this fall.
Grizzlies in the region are a vulnerable species. The Selkirk Recovery Zone for the bears spans the U.S. and Canadian border.
Zoe Hanley, Northwest representative with Defenders of Wildlife, said about 10 grizzlies live on the Washington side of the border, so recovering every individual counts.
She said it can be scary when bears come into a campsite looking for food, and they might damage a tent or car. Hanley noted conflicts with humans also put bears at risk.
"That can lead to bears being removed, killed, lethally controlled from those areas when they get into conflict with people," said Hanley. "And so, this is an opportunity to keep people safe in grizzly country, and to ensure that this recovering grizzly population has the opportunity to do so successfully."
Jessie Grossman, U.S. program manager with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, said grizzles need to be able to move long distances in order to maintain a healthy population.
She noted it's important that grizzlies in this region move across the Canadian border and connect with the U.S. populations.
"The Selkirk bears in particular really play an important role in that larger scale of keeping bears in North America connected and healthy," said Grossman. "And that's one of the reasons why we chose to work there."
Grossman advised people staying in grizzly country to secure their food and carry bear spray.
Disclosure: Defenders of Wildlife contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Endangered Species & Wildlife, Energy Policy, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
click here.
get more stories like this via email
After years of trying and failing, Indiana lawmakers have put bobcats in the crosshairs.
The decision forces the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to create the hunting season framework and ignited fierce debate among lawmakers, wildlife advocates and hunters regarding the necessity and ethics of targeting Indiana's only native wild cat species.
Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director for The Humane Society of the United States, argued the bobcat population is still in the process of recovering in Indiana.
"Throughout the committee process, it was very clear that the hunter and trapping lobby had a lot to do with this bill," Chapman asserted. "Folks have even mentioned wanting to eat bobcats, which to me seems absolutely preposterous."
Chapman stressed experts need scientific data before targeting the wild cats. Proponents claim they are having issues with disappearing cottontail rabbits and said the bobcat population is getting out of control, especially in southern Indiana.
Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, authored the bill. He said the DNR has many people with varying opinions, and they sometimes need to be nudged.
Ernie Nichols, a member of the Indiana State Trappers Association, encouraged lawmakers to eat bobcat meat.
"First off, tastes great. I don't know if you've ever had a chance to eat it but it's delicious," Nichols stated. "Second off, on the state DNR website from calendar year '22 to '23 there has been a 118% increase in confirmed bobcat sightings."
Opponents claim hunters want to take the cats for the fur or a trophy and argued wildlife belongs to all Hoosiers and should be held in public trust. The DNR has remained neutral throughout the contentious debate and is tasked with creating the new season to hunt and trap bobcats, possibly as soon as July 2025.
get more stories like this via email
A Utah wildlife expert considers wild animal poaching to be a significant problem in the Beehive State, following several incidents of game animals being killed and then left to waste.
According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, four deer were killed in the Woodland Hills area of Utah County late last year. The heads were removed from each deer, and the carcasses were left. More recently, the division discovered a cow elk and 18 geese dead in Emery County.
Capt. Chad Bettridge, law enforcement officer for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said the hunters responsible for these killings could be charged with a felony.
"Three very different circumstances and potentially even more than that," Bettridge noted. "We are not 100% sure that all the deer in Utah County were tied together, but they were in such a location and were similar in circumstance that it does kind of feel like they were maybe done by the same people, or at least related."
Bettridge encouraged anyone with information which could be useful to contact the division by using their law enforcement app. It allows you to send text messages, photos and GPS locations of any situation you think might be illegal. You can also use their 'turn in a poacher hotline,' at 800-662-3337.
Bettridge pointed out in the past five years, the number of animals killed illegally has ranged between 1,000 and 1,400. He added Utah is a big state, and as he put it, the agency does not have "an incredible amount of officers" to cover the vast landscape. When they're fully staffed, there are about 50 officers in the field to investigate reports of animal killings.
"For example, the cow elk in Emery County, that cow elk was shot during a time that it could have been a legal season for cow elk," Bettridge recounted. "However, only a small amount of the meat was taken from the carcass and everything else was left to waste, which makes it illegal, even if you had a license to legally kill that elk."
Bettridge acknowledged the majority of hunters and fishermen are doing the right thing, but said there are bad actors out there. He added the division depends on the public to help by reaching out if they come across something potentially illegal and in need of a closer look.
get more stories like this via email
A federal court ruling that limits wolf trapping and snaring in Idaho could aid recovery of grizzly bears in the region.
U.S. Judge Candy Dale ruled that the state needs to cut back on wolf trapping and snaring because of its impact on grizzly bears, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Jeff Abrams, wildlife program associate with the Idaho Conservation League, said a bill passed in Idaho in 2021 expanded trapping and snaring of wolves and likely led to the judge's decision.
"The decision plainly concludes that there's no way to set a trap or a snare in a way that will only capture a wolf," said Abrams, "and state incentives for this activity make the problem even worse."
Under the ruling, wolf trapping season will close between March 1 and November 30 in eastern and northern Idaho.
In response to the decision, Idaho Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks said the state has expanded wolf snaring cautiously and the agency is considering its legal options.
While grizzlies have made a comeback in parts of Idaho, Abrams said they've been absent in the central section of the state, known as the Bitterroot.
"That recovery zone does not have bears in it right now," said Abrams, "and this ruling very much impacted our ability to begin to work to restore bears in that habitat."
Abrams said he believes lawmakers have been single minded in the their approach to wolf management, expanding it too far.
"The right to trap is guaranteed in Idaho but not if it might impact or harm protected wildlife species," said Abrams. "It also risks the goodwill of a lot of Idahoans that generally support the idea of trapping."
Disclosure: Idaho Conservation League contributes to our fund for reporting on Energy Policy, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
click here.
get more stories like this via email