Guest commentary: Without grizzlies, Montana is just another Colorado

By Janelle Holden

In 1979, a man shot the last grizzly bear seen in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Since then, there have been rumors that a small population still survives, but this has never been confirmed. Instead, the only bears that call the San Juans home now are massive black bears that people sometimes mistake for grizzlies.

I moved to a town in the San Juans for a job a few years back, and secretly, I was looking forward to a few hiking trips where I didn't have to worry about a grizzly encounter. Living most of my life on the edge of Glacier National Park had made me accustomed to having grizzlies around.

I thought that, without the great bears on my mind, I might enjoy the scenery a little more, smell the wildflowers a little bit more deeply, and camp without worrying over the toothpaste in my tent. Much to my surprise and chagrin, I missed the bears more than I ever thought I would. I missed the heightened awareness grizzly country requires, the sense that something much bigger than me lives in the woods.

The San Juans taught me that wilderness without grizzlies isn't really wilderness. It's remote. It's spectacular. It shares many of the same traits as the Northern Rockies, but it's missing a prime ingredient. In my mind, when grizzlies left, the wild walked right out of the San Juans.

With this memory on my mind, I'm concerned about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal to take the Yellowstone grizzly bear population off of the endangered species list. I'm concerned because I don't want Montana to turn into Colorado. Sure, we have big mountains and lots of open space, but so do Colorado, California, and Utah. More than any other thing, grizzly bears make our state unique and define us.

Fortunately, Montanans have the opportunity to participate in planning the Yellowstone grizzly bears' future. We have the opportunity to ask some important questions of our federal and state wildlife managers before Feb. 15. Will grizzly bears continue to be protected in all areas of suitable habitat under state management? Will the U.S. Forest Service continue to protect their habitat? Is adequate funding to monitor the status of the population and its habitat secured? Are there provisions to increase protections if one or more key grizzly bear foods decline? Will work continue to restore connections between the Yellowstone population and others in northwestern Montana, northern Idaho, and Canada?

We need to ask these questions and we must have suitable answers before grizzly bears are delisted in this region. While our wildlife managers are answering our questions, we must ask ourselves how we can live in grizzly country better. More bears are dying than ever before because of us. No law can make sure we all keep our garbage inside during the summer, or remember to keep a clean camp in the backcountry. We'll have to do that ourselves, and more.

The Yellowstone grizzly wasn't pulled from the edge of extinction by accident. It took the right protections, the hard work of managers, and the willingness of people who live here to invest in their recovery. A lot is at stake with this proposal, and everyone who has an interest in grizzly bears should learn more about the delisting proposal and participate in the process. We need to ask the right questions, we need to ask them now, and we must make sure our future includes the Yellowstone grizzly.

Janelle Holden works for Predator Conservation Alliance in Bozeman.

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