"MUSICAL BEARS" is what Conservationist Robert Hopkins calls the current Wyoming Game & Fish policy of capturing and relocating so-called "problem Grizzlies............There is a need for designating more habitat for our Bears...........There is viable habitat throughout the Southern and Northern Rockies..........As is always the case, the political and social aspect of rewilding additional acreage for the bears is the hurdle,,,,,,,,,Bottom line is that "Picking em up and dropping them down in the current man-dilineated Greater Yellowstone Griz zone(a large finite island) is ultimately a losing proposition for the Bears

As Grizzly Habitat Shrinks in Greater Yellowstone, Wildlife Managers Forced to Play 'Musical Bears'

Leading conservationist: "It certainly is an extraordinary waste of manpower and funds to chauffeur bears all over the place."

By Brodie Farquhar
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	Yellowstone griz. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, grizzly bear management faces a major constraint – all the best habitat for grizzly bears is already occupied, even over-occupied.

Or is it?

"I call it the 'too many fish in a bucket' scenario," said Mark Bruscino, the veteran bear manager for the Wyoming Game & Fish Department. Fish, meaning bears, keep jumping out of the best habitat, he said, landing in rural habitats where they can get in trouble with people. It doesn't always work to scoop up the fish and put it back in the bucket – not when the fish/bear becomes habituated to human food sources or gets pushed around by bigger, badder bears and keeps jumping out of the bucket, said Bruscino.

When a bear shows up well outside the politically - and socially - acceptable habitat zone of the Greater Yellowstone, the Tetons and surrounding forests – the bucket – Bruscino and his crew swing into action. A culvert trap/cage is wheeled into the area, baited and they settle down to wait for the always hungry bruin to enter the trap. Then the trapped bear is transported into remote back country, away from such temptations as livestock, orchards, chickens, gardens, barns, bird feeders, garbage cans and greasy barbecue grills.
The hope is that the transported bear will stay in the back country and out of trouble. Sometimes that's what happens. Other times, the bears find their way back to rural areas, and the cycle begins again.

"You have to consider the totality of the situation," Bruscino said. Is the bear just being a bear? Is it habituated to human food sources? Have game wardens dealt with this bear before? How does the bear behave around people? Age, health and especially sex are considered, he said. Females are critical to growing the grizzly bear population, he said, so more allowances are made for females than for males. Bear managers will work harder, try more alternatives and give females more chances than males.

Eventually, some bears run out of chances and they're put down as game wardens assess their behavior as getting more risky, more dangerous.

Another analogy comes from Crowheart conservationist Robert Hopkins. He calls grizzly bear management "musical bears" – a pun borrowing from the childhood game of musical chairs. Only in this game, bears cycle through various habitats seeking food, as the habitats shrink in number and/or quality. It isn't a fun game, because inevitably, all the bears lose. Hopkins is frustrated with the entire concept of moving problem bears back to the wild. "They don't always head for the high country when they're turned loose," Hopkins said in an email. "In truth, the policy simply shifts problems around and doesn't solve anything. It's all propaganda to act as if they're doing something. It certainly is an extraordinary waste of manpower and funds to chauffeur bears all over the place. The only true solution is more habitat--don't try to keep bears out of the Southern Winds, etc."

Bruscino agrees that more habitat is highly desirable. Any time a sheep-grazing operation moves out of the Greater Yellowstone area, he said, it opens up "new" habitat for bears, because sheep-occupied habitat is never suitable for bears.

Chuck Neal, author of "Grizzlies in the Mist," takes a broader view as an ecologist. He views the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as an island – a large one, but an island nevertheless for the 600-some resident bears. Declaring the grizzly bear recovered under the Endangered Species Act is a political statement, he said, not a scientific assessment.

Earlier this summer, a grizzly showed up south of Meeteetsee, 25 miles outside the grizzly-bear zone defined by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Bruscino and his crew trapped the bear and removed it from that environment, but Neal figures the bear was out there for a reason, foraging where bears have historically foraged before.

He's delighted with the news that a bear (grizzly or black is not confirmed) has been spotted in the southern Wind River Range, up Sink's Canyon, outside of Lander, Wyoming. Grizzlies are living just a little north in the Wind River Reservation, he said. They could easily expand into the Wyoming Range, down the Sweetwater Valley, down to the Sierra Madres and even do some seasonal foraging into the Jack Morrow Hills, which has a thriving elk herd. Central Idaho and western Montana also have open habitat.

"The problem is political," Neal said. "There is no lack of suitable habitat and the bears will tell us where habitat is suitable."

Ideally, and from an ecological perspective, Neal would like to see the grizzly bear expand in numbers and spread far outside the Greater Yellowstone, with linkage to the Canadian bear population, to keep up genetic diversity and vitality. "What we have is a recovering population, not a recovered population," he said.

The biggest problem is the near-hysteric fear and political propaganda that blocks an expanding bear population, he said. Opponents of grizzly bear expansion have emphasized fear bloody encounters between huge bears and people.

Yet Bruscino and Neal agree that it is possible for humans and bears to co-exist, based on education, respect and tolerance. Both agree that greater risks are found in driving to the store or walking down the street past Fido. "The vast majority of bears never interact with people," said Bruscino. Only a small number of bears get into conflicts, he said. Most conflicts are relatively minor, he added, hastening to add that he didn't want to be insensitive about the California man who was killed earlier this month by a grizzly sow in Yellowstone Park. That mother bear was not put down, because it was viewed as protecting her cubs in the incident.

Where the two men differ is that Bruscino believes the Meeteetsee-area rancher who found a grizzly bear on his back 40 shouldn't have to modify his behavior or expectations. For Neal, modifying the behavior of people is not that difficult.

"The more crucial question is this," said Neal. "As a society, we need to decide which has the highest priority – the public's wildlife or privately-owned livestock operating on public lands."

The Wapiti Bear Wise program, for the North and South Fork areas of the Shoshone River, demonstrate that people can and do learn how to live in bear country. An offshoot of Bruscino's bear management efforts, the program educates residents on how to remove bear temptations, use fences and secure garbage cans. Public cooperation is proving to be very high, to the benefit of people and bears alike. "Wherever you live," said Bruscino, "you have responsibilities to your neighbors. If you live in town, you keep your sidewalk cleared of snow, so the little old lady up the block can walk to the store," Similarly, if you live in bear country, then bears are your neighbors and you need to care for your neighbor—which means not attracting the bear onto your property, he added.

"Bears can't change their behavior," said Bruscino, "but we can. We make choices."