New grizzly bear plans released for Selkirk and Cabinet Mountains

Comments will be taken until June 22-

Grizzly protection proposed. Plan would limit public’s access. Becky Kramer. Spokesman-Review

It is irritating that the headline for the new plan to save the grizzlies in these two disjunctive grizzly populations of northern Idaho and NW Montana should be negative in tone. After a  brief  look at the plan, to me it appears it will open up about as many miles of roads and routes as it will close. Why stress the minor difference? The rejected alternative, alternative D, which would do more for the bears, would close many hundreds of miles of roads and routes.

The estimated bear population for the two areas is 86 in total. They are separate areas. The bears never, or rarely, move from one to the other. Nor do they connect with the larger grizzly area called the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (Glacier National Park, Bob Marshall Wilderness, etc.).

Here is a link to the plan itself.

Western Watersheds Project’s current legal docket

Aggressive conservation group’s current ambitious set of lawsuits-

“The litigation docket of Western Watersheds Project is large and varied.” WWP Blog.