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IGBC Selkirk/Cabinet-Yaak Subcommittee
Meeting Notes 11/15/2007
Submitted by Joe Madison and David Roberts
Mike Herrin – I&E Task Group Report
- Mike Herrin has moved from the ranger position at Bonners Ferry to the ranger position at Troy, but will remain the I&E Taskforce Chair.
- Linda McFadden, the new Bonners Ferry ranger, will most likely take over as the Access Taskforce Chair.
- I&E received $7500 from IGBC this year
- $2500 paid for 35 additional 4’x 4’ foot grizzly bear signs
- $5000 helped to fund the grizzly bear telephone survey conducted in Lincoln and Sanders Counties.
- Just received a request for new project proposals for this year’s funding from Ellen Davis (IGBC Executive Assistant).
- The last couple of years the focus has been on grizzly bear identification, but would like to shift the emphasis to living in bear country with a focus on residential/wilderness interface areas.
- David Roberts and Gail West (IPNF Public Information Officer) created an information sheet on living and recreating in bear country that is based loosely on the proposed food storage order but is written in plain language and not CFR terms.
Scott Robinson – Bear Displays
- Through a partnership between the BLM, Forest Service, Idaho Fish and Game and several other organizations, including the Be Bear Aware campaign, a couple of large displays were created to be used by organizations to create a common message across jurisdictional lines regarding how to live and recreate in bear country. Displays are available to be used across the area for events such as gun shows, county fairs, etc. Call Scott to reserve the displays. Brochures also come with the displays.
- Looking into the possibility of using KVRI funds to get another set made.
Chuck Bartlebaugh – Be Bear Aware Campaign
- Have produced 200,000 Hiking in Bear Country and 100,000 Be Bear Aware brochures. Other partners are producing another 500,000.
- 15 million visitors come to areas that the Be Bear Aware message is trying to reach.
- His organization is good at creating effective displays and brochures, but they need our input regarding the content and science.
- Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are helping to get the Be Bear Aware message out.
Sarah Canepa – Telephone Survey Update
Sarah Canepa of the Yaak Valley Forest Council gave a project update on the Public Opinion and Knowledge Survey that was conducted in July/August 2007 by the Cabinet Yaak Grizzly Bear Outreach Project. The telephone survey randomly selected numbers from the Troy, Libby, Thompson Falls, Noxon areas and asked 502 residents a variety of questions on topics such as:
- Knowledge of grizzly bear population and behavior
- Knowledge of grizzly bear recovery efforts
- Feelings about grizzly bears in the Cabinet Yaak and recovery efforts.
- Sources of Information about grizzly bears
- Feelings about human and bear interaction, garbage disposal methods and road restrictions.
- Perception of management strategies
The CYGBOP has received the preliminary results and are waiting for further data analysis to complete an executive summary of the results that can be shared more broadly with the subcommittee and the communities of Lincoln and Sanders County. Entire survey was estimated to cost around $25000, but with effort they were able to complete it for around $17,000.
Preliminary results show support for grizzly bears and recovery efforts by a majority of residents and identifies areas of concern for residents that will be helpful to designing an appropriate outreach and education program in the area.
For more information contact Sarah Canepa at sarahyaak@yahoo.com or 406-295-9906
2007 Accomplishments
- Went through list of 2007 Planned Actions to discuss their current status.
- Graduate student is almost done with the final thesis on the habitat-based predictive model.
- Discussed that it was difficult to find funding for many of the planned actions and it was suggested that more money be obtained through non-governmental means such as with Kim Annis’s position that is funded by a private mining company.
- Development of a strategy for reducing grizzly bear mortality based on their causes has not been completed yet.
- Funding a full time bear management specialist has been completed with the hiring of Kim Annis.
- In the 2007 Planned Actions, surveying and monitoring grizzly bears on the Colville National Forest was listed as needing to be done and it was partially completed by the placement of hair snares on the Forest. Hope to continue sampling with additional funding.
- Chris Servheen noted that the Selkirk/Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem receives more private money than any of the other ecosystems.
- Ranotta McNair mentioned that the IPNF made some positive steps toward reducing human/bear conflicts, including making food/trash storage mandatory for the Recreation Residences.
2008 Planned Actions
Food Storage Order
- At the last meeting, the agencies were tasked to provide their input on the draft food storage order to generate one order that was agreed upon by everyone involved. Although there was some general agreement on the wording of the draft food storage order, there was disagreement over the need to make it mandatory or not.
- Paul Bradford noted that the Rock Creek Mine Biological Opinion and Mitigation Plan includes a mandatory food storage order for BMUs 4, 5, and 6 prior to allowing Revett Mining Company to start the evaluation adit.
- Ranotta said that based on the local communities, that the IPNF was moving forward on education and working toward bear-resistant containers, but that there was not support for a mandatory food storage order in grizzly bear habitat, but instead the IPNF was moving toward a voluntary food storage order across the Forest.
- After some debate, it was decided that the food storage order language had not been agreed upon yet and that the group should finalize the wording. It could then potentially be implemented as mandatory in some areas and voluntary in others.
- Wayne Johnson noted that although the committee wanted to have a consistent message across the ecosystem, that may not be possible due to differing implementation timelines across agencies and requirements of biological opinions.
- Wayne Wakkinen noted that the food storage order can be used as a proactive tool or as a reactive tool and wondered how the public would respond to a proactive mandatory food storage order. Regardless, he felt it was important to finalize the wording of the food storage order as soon as possible so it would be available when needed.
- It was decided to recirculate the draft food storage order to the appropriate people for edits and comments to make sure it will work for everyone.
- Jim Claar suggested that the group develop an implementation schedule for the food storage order.
- Someone thought we had been lucky that the human/bear conflicts to this point have only been in the interface and we shouldn’t be waiting until we have additional problems before implementing a mandatory food storage order.
- Mike Herrin noted that there has already been a lot of work done to avoid problems even without a mandatory food storage order.
- John Konzen was concerned about mandatory implementation of a food storage order and the amount of public outcry, particularly without the ability to have effective enforcement of the order.
It was decided to set a target date of April 1, 2008 for completing the language of the food storage order, regardless of whether or not it would be mandatory or voluntary.
Other Planned Actions
- Complete analysis of phone survey, distribute the results and develop I&E based on the results. final report should be completed by the end of February. The results will then be discussed with the I&E taskforce and reported to the IGBC subcommittee at the spring meeting. No additional funding is needed from IGBC unless we want to expand the area covered by the survey.
- Priority 3, Reduce human caused mortalities by completing a detailed strategy based on an analysis of the causes of mortality. Wayne Kasworm and Wayne Wakkinen have the basic causes of mortality, but need to work with citizen groups to create a matrix to determine the responsibilities for the mortalities and ways to solve them. They have had informal relationships with citizen groups, but should formalize them to work on the causes of mortality. It was noted that Washington does not have a citizens group, so a report on mortality would be helpful to justify why there is a need to focus on grizzly bear management.
- It was decided to leave this item as a priority for 2008 because input from a citizens group would be invaluable.
- The group would like to have a presentation on the results of the habitat-based approach to access management at the spring subcommittee meeting and then the group needs to determine how we are going to implement the results.
- Surveying and monitoring grizzly bears on the Colville National Forest was changed from “needed” to “ongoing”.
- Continue improving sanitation conditions on public and private lands was changed from “ongoing” to a priority.
Scott Soults – KVRI Grizzly Bear Subcommittee
- Group created bear brochures and wanted to make them available to people just arriving in the area so worked with realtors to distribute brochures. Also had the brochures out at the county fair.
- Boundary County has fenced several dumpster sites and there is one more that could be an issue. There is the possibility that some of the smaller sites will be consolidated. Black bears are the main problem now.
- Wayne Wakkinen displayed bear resistant food storage containers at the fair.
- KVRI is looking into grants and would like to obtain another bear mount.
Wayne Wakkinen’s Report (Selkirk Ecosystem)
Trapping and Monitoring
One subadult male and one adult male grizzly bear were trapped in the Nordman, ID area in management-related responses. The subadult male was food-conditioned and habituated because of people feeding this bear corn and sunflower seeds. Some of the feeding was intentional and some was inadvertent. The bear was trapped on Aug 11, collared, and released in Grass Ck, ID on Aug 12. The bear returned to the Nordman area on Sept 8. Due to extreme habituation, the decision was made to lethally remove the bear. He was shot and killed by IDFG personnel on Oct 4, 2007.
The adult male bear was trapped on Oct 4, collared, and released in lower Grass Ck on Oct 5. He returned to the Nordman area within a week but did not cause any problems. He is currently denned on the west side of Snowy Top Mtn in BC.
Two grizzly bears were trapped in 2006 in conjunction with the Copeland Highway Project. Both were subadult males that were trapped in the south side of Highway 95 in the Round Prairie area. One was captured as part of a highway study in British Columbia and was wearing a GPS collar. The bear crossed the Kootenai Valley, denned in upper Myrtle Ck, and subsequently moved to the Washington portion of the ecosystem (Molybdenite Mtn). The other bear moved north into B.C., denned, and subsequently dropped his collar in the spring 2007.
Numerous sightings were reported this year, especially in the spring in the meadow systems west of Priest Lake. At one time at least 11 and possibly 17 different bears were documented in this area. Several family groups, including a female with 3 cubs, have been reported.
Mortalities
Three known human-caused mortalities occurred in 2007. An adult female (#29) was killed in a vehicle collision this summer on the east side of Kootenay Pass, BC Highway 3. She was trapped in Grass Ck in 2002 and was 10 years old at the time of her death.
An adult female (#1000) was killed in Washington during the big game season. She was shot by black bear hunters in early October. The case in under investigation.
The subadult male (#5393) was shot and killed by IDFG personnel as a nuisance animal on October 4.
Habitat Analysis-Resource Selection Function
A graduate student is currently working at the University of Idaho analyzing data from the Selkirk and Yaak ecosystem. Results will include a multivariate habitat analysis that may include seasonal attributes. His thesis is currently being reviewed by his graduate committee. Completion is imminent.
Copeland Highway Wildlife Monitoring Project
The Copeland Highway monitoring project is wrapping up. Four black bears and one wolf are currently being monitored. Black bear dens will be entered this winter to retrieve GPS collars and data will be analyzed. Anticipated completion date for the bear portion of the project is winter 2007/8.
Remote cameras and sand track pads are installed in the three wildlife underpasses and checked every two weeks. To date numerous animals have used the underpasses including deer, moose, coyotes, skunks, and hares.
Sanitation Efforts
Sanitation is a high priority item, especially in light of the summer’s activities around Priest Lake. We are pursuing a National Forest Foundation grant to address sanitation issues at state and federal campgrounds (food storage containers and bear resistant trash cans and dumpsters). We are pursuing the establishment of a community-based public outreach program (GBOP or “Bear Smart”-like program). We are also working with Boundary County to address sanitation issues as a dumpster site.
Hair Snagging for Population and Genetic Analysis
I conducted a large-scale DNA hair snagging project in the Selkirks this year. We had hoped to run 60 sites but logistics made us cut back to about 45 sites. The hair samples will be submitted to the DNA lab in Nelson, BC this winter.
KVRI grizzly bear subcommittee
The Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative’s grizzly bear subcommittee continues to be active. Achievements this year include 1) the development of a local bear educational brochure; 2) sanitation presentation at the county fair, including a raffle for 2 bear resistant containers; 3) work with local governments to address sanitation issues; 4) pursuit of additional grants to obtain another grizzly bear mount to be used for educational purposes; and 5) regular participation in monthly KVRI meetings to keep people up to date and aware of grizzly bear issues.
General Comments
- Should have a presentation on the Copeland highway results at the spring meeting.
- There was a brief discussion on aversive conditioning and why it wasn’t used on some of the bear relocations. Chris Servheen stated that he doesn’t believe aversive conditioning works on bears that have already obtained food and Wayne Kasworm pointed out that aversive conditioning has to be employed at the capture site not at the release site.
- Brian Johnson reported that an illegal grizzly bear mortality investigation was concluded and that the bear was determined to be from the Selkirks.
Wayne Kasworm’s Report (Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem)
Monitoring and Trapping
We began 2007 monitoring two females (population augmentation) and one male grizzly bear in the Cabinet Mountains, a female in the Yaak, and a male in the Selkirk Mountains. The female grizzly bear transplanted to the Cabinet Mountains in October of 2005 emerged from her den in early April without cubs and has made extensive movements in the West Cabinet Mountains. She was wearing a standard radio collar and was being monitored twice weekly by aircraft until September when the spacer in the collar rotted away and the collar fell off. The other augmentation bear released in 2006 is wearing a GPS radio collar. She is currently 3 years old. The male grizzly bear captured in September of 2006 emerged from his den in early April and was monitored the entire summer. Another female is being monitored in the Yaak River portion of the recovery zone. She was originally captured in autumn of 2004 and has used Northwest Peaks and the area north in British Columbia. She is 5-6 years old and may have cubs next year. A 3-4 year-old male grizzly bear originally captured in British Columbia about a mile north of the intersection of BC, MT, and ID in 2006 was tracked moving into the Selkirk Mountains. The animal was wearing a GPS collar that detached from the animal as planned in October of 2007. We have retrieved the collar and are analyzing the movement data. The collar was retrieved about 4 miles west of the Pend Oreille River in Washington.
A grizzly bear got unsecured garbage at the dumpster site at 4th of July Creek in the Yaak River during April of 2007. Traps were set and the dumpsters were removed, but the bear was not captured and there was no sign of its return after the dumpsters were removed.
In early September we received reports of a female grizzly bear with young eating apples at a few residences south of Noxon. We talked with several local residents and distributed information about living in bear habitat. Residents indicated that the bears ran away when confronted. Near the middle of the month the bears had returned to another residence to eat apples for several consecutive nights. Traps were set to capture the animals for a preemptive move out of the valley. The adult female was captured the first night and the cubs were caught the second night. The animals were anesthetized, examined and ear tagged. We placed a GPS radio Collar on the adult female and they were released in upper part of Marten Creek the following day. The bears remained at the upper elevations along the Idaho-Montana border until the end of the first week of October. She returned to the Noxon area and crossed the Clark Fork River moving north. She got apples and some dog food at two residences on the north side of the river before moving further north up the Bull River. A bear got garbage at the Rock Creek county dumpster site from a container that was not properly closed. This incident occurred about the same time the bears crossed the Clark Fork River, but we are not sure whether it was this grizzly bear or not. The county was notified about the dumpster issue. The bears continued north to the south end of Bull Lake. At this point the collar went to mortality mode, but when approached on the ground it switched back to active mode and the collar appeared to be moving. The next day the collar could not be located and subsequent aircraft flights have not been able to detect the signal. Radio malfunction is suspected in this case.
We captured two 2-year-old female grizzly bears in the Yaak drainage. Their mother was killed in a self defense conflict with a bow hunter during late September. Both bears are moving together and are of sufficient age to survive on their own.
We are involved with 2 population linkage projects. The first linkage project centered on Highway 2 along the Kootenai River between Troy and the Idaho – Montana border and the second centered on Highway 3 in British Columbia between Creston and Cranbrook. Black bears are being used as surrogates for grizzly bears in the Highway 2 study because of very low grizzly bear population densities. Goals of the program are to examine crossing frequencies of the Kootenai River Valley and the associated Highway, railway, and other human activities and develop models to predict likely crossing areas. Twelve black bears have been collared since 2004. These collars are programmed to obtain hourly locations. All bears were captured within 4-5 miles of the river. Collars were programmed to detach in October for retrieval and downloading of location data. None of the collared bears crossed the river, but 2 bears crossed the highway 2.
The Highway 3 project is a cooperative effort among Dr. Michael Proctor, British Columbia Ministry of Land, Water, and Air Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The project involves capture and collaring of grizzly bears and black bears in the Highway 3 corridor around the town of Yahk, BC. Another component of this project is hair snag sampling for DNA analysis on both sides of the highway to detect highway crossings and further compare genetics of bears on both sides of the highway. Hair snagging has identified at least 18 bears within the sampling grid and at least 1 bear that crossed Highway 3. Fifteen grizzly bears (10 males and 5 females) and 14 black bears have been instrumented with GPS radio collars since 2004. Several male grizzly bears and black bears have crossed the highway several times. One young male grizzly bear has crossed the Kootenai River in the U.S. moving from the Cabinet-Yaak to the Selkirk Mountains recovery zone. This project is expected to continue for at least one more year and future efforts will shift west to look at linkage to the Selkirk Mountains.
Mortality
One human caused mortality has occurred in the recovery zone thus far during 2007. This incident involved the self-defense killing of an adult female grizzly bear by a bow hunter in Spread Creek during September. The bear was accompanied by two 1 or 2 year-old s that were subsequently captured and radio collared. The female was identified as a previously marked bear from holes in her ears from old tags. Analysis of DNA will verify the identity of this individual. The bear was believed to be approximately 10 years old.
Sanitation and Outreach
A new electrified fence was constructed around 2 Lincoln County dumpster sites. The first was south of Eureka at Glen Lake and the second was at the 4th of July site in the Yaak. This was the site of the grizzly bear trapping episode in April for the bear that got unsecured garbage.
The new brochure on Living with Grizzly bears was distributed to several offices, businesses, and residences in the recovery zone. Several informational programs were presented including: an information display at the Yaak Wilderness festival, Libby High School advanced Biology Class field trips, a church group, the public evening session at the spring subcommittee meeting, a retired persons group at a campground, pepper spray training for the US Forest Service, a peer reviewed scientific journal article, and two presentations at biological conferences.
Hair Snagging for Genetic Analysis
Hair snag sampling for genetic analysis has occurred in the Cabinet Mountains during 2002-06. This sampling was designed to identify transplanted bears or their offspring and was not designed to estimate populations. A grid sampling of the entire Cabinet Mountains occurred in 2003. Sampling occurred at 15-25 sites, within or adjacent to the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, during 2002, and 2004-05. These sites were selected on the basis of previous sightings, sign, and telemetry. All collected hair was analyzed at the Wildlife Genetics International Laboratory in Nelson, British Columbia. Previously collected genetic samples from captured bears, mortalities, or opportunistically collected hair samples were also analyzed. Six individuals were identified by the hair snag sampling and 10 individuals were identified from the other previously collected samples. Hair snag samples collected in 2004 and 2005 were identified as bear 286 which was transplanted to the Cabinet Mountains from British Columbia in 1993 as a 2 year-old. Genetic analysis of family relationships indicated that bear 286 has produced at least 2 litters of young and photographic evidence from 2005 suggests she may have had cubs during 2005. Furthermore, the female offspring of bear 286 have also produced young. These analyses have been published in the Journal of Wildlife Management 71:1261-1266. Genetic analysis of hair collected at 14 sites sampled during 2006 is not complete.
Annual reports for this project and published articles can be found at:
http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/species/mammals/grizzly/cabinet.htm.
Habitat Analysis - Resource Selection Function
A graduate student at the University of Idaho is analyzing data from the Selkirk and Yaak ecosystem to produce a map of habitat quality. Results will include a multivariate habitat analysis that will include seasonal attributes. The student is nearing completion with an anticipated completion date in late 2007 or early 2008.
General Comments
- Showed a PowerPoint presentation that included mapping of movements by collared grizzly bears.
Chris Servheen – FWS Grizzly Bear Status Review
- Currently conducting a 5 year status review of grizzly bears outside of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem:
- Examining the threats in each recovery area looking at habitat, population size, regulations and changes to determine if they should be threatened, endangered or delisted.
- Evaluating the potential for distinct population segments (DPS) with regard to discreteness and significance because DPS came into practice after the listing of grizzly bears.
- The status review will be conducted with partners and will be done over the next year.
- The review will include public meetings.
- The review is also looking at genetics and movements between ecosystems.
Kim Annis – MTFWP Bear Management Specialist
- Worked 5 years in Florida on human/bear conflicts. Got her Masters Degree on Bear Translocation
- Covers a large area in Northwestern Montana. So far she has dealt with a lot of black bear issues, mostly human/bear conflicts over fruit trees. Kim plans to conduct a lot of education this winter.
- Can be reached at the same number as Wayne Kasworm, but extension 107.
Public Comment/ Questions
- A question was asked regarding the status of the Access Amendment – it is progressing and the document is being reviewed/updated and a supplemental draft is expected out in spring 2008.
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NEXT MEETING DATE AND LOCATION
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 0900 (Pacific Time) in Newport, WA
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