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History of Grizzly Bear Augmentation in the Cabinet Mountains
Research on grizzly bears in the Cabinet Mountain region began in the late 1970’s and at that time it was thought that only a dozen grizzly bears inhabited the area. By the 1980’s, even though research efforts were intensified, few bears were detected or captured. During that period, minimal reproduction was observed and the population was believed to be declining toward extinction. A plan was proposed to augment the Cabinet Mountain portion of the population by translocating subadult female grizzly bears with no history of human-bear conflicts from outside the area to improve the existing population. From 1990-94 four subadult female bears were captured in the Flathead River Valley in British Columbia and released in the Cabinet Mountains. We know that one of those bears has reproduced on several occasions and that her offspring have also reproduced. In addition two more subadult females were captured from the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana and released in the West Cabinet Mountains from 2005-06. Additional subadult females will be sought for the move into the Cabinet Mountains over the next several years to continue this augmentation program. Find more information on the grizzly bear augmentation program for the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem at http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/cabinetArchive.htm
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