Gianforte signs bill that would allow landowners to kill threatening bears after endangered species delisting
Ellis Juhlin | Montana Public Radio
Montana wildlife managers and lawmakers are preparing for state-level grizzly bear management in the possibility of a federal delisting. Ranchers celebrated a bill that would give them more options for dealing with conflict bears.
Gov. Greg Gianforte held a bill signing ceremony in front of 20 lawmakers and 8,000 cattle at a feedlot just outside of Choteau.
Cody Yeager owns the North Montana Feeders cattle feedlot which he said has had conflicts with grizzlies drawn in by the smell.
“We’ve had as many as 11 to 13 bears on this property in one evening,” Yeager said.
Yeager put up electric fencing around his 64-acre feedlot to keep bears out but said some bears still dig under the fence.
Grizzlies are traveling into areas of Montana where they haven’t been seen in decades. The new state bill would allow landowners to do more, like shoot bears they feel threatened by, if the bruins are removed from federal Endangered Species Act protections.
Opponents of the bill have said the guidelines are too open-ended and may lead to unnecessary grizzly deaths.
State wildlife managers said that grizzly populations have recovered to the point that the bears should be federally delisted, but it’s unclear when that could happen.
Grizzlies are moving into parts of Montana where they haven’t lived for years
Kay Erickson | Yellowstone Public Radio
Grizzly bears are expanding their range into parts of Montana where they have not roamed for years, if not centuries. Bear specialists are working to prepare those communities, like Big Timber in south central Montana, for their eventual arrival.
“Grizzly bears are expanding their range and we do expect that at some point, grizzly bears will be near Big Timber so we just want to get ahead of any problems,” Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear specialist Daniel McHugh said.
McHugh will conduct a community meeting in Big Timber on Monday to talk about bear management.
Big Timber doesn’t have grizzlies yet, but they do have problems with black bears.
“If we can get ahead of black bear conflicts in areas then we’re also getting way ahead of grizzly bear conflicts because where there’s black bear conflicts now, there is always the potential for grizzly bear conflicts to follow,” McHugh said.
McHugh said grizzlies are in the region south of Interstate 90, but not in high numbers. Because of the proximity, he wants residents to practice good bear management.
“We just want to make sure we can nip it in the bud right now,” McHugh said.
The bear town hall meeting is Monday night from 7 p.m to 9 p.m. at the Big Timber Carnegie Library. The event is free and open to the public. Landowners are encouraged to attend.
