The author prepared this report on behalf of several conservation groups* as an alternative to the draft revised grizzly bear recovery plan proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Significantly, the author published the initial population viability analysis for grizzly bears that the FWS relies upon in its own recovery plan targets. The document both critiques ongoing FWS approach to grizzly bear recovery, and offers a bold alternative toward restoring a contiguous grizzly bear population numbering several thousand individuals across the U.S. northern Rockies and Northwest (and contiguous to Canada populations as well). There is too much good information to do justice here, but here are some notable excerpts follow.

"The only way to keep the grizzly bear in the American West is to return it to a larger portion of the landscape than it occupied in 1975. There is still the opportunity to weave together the existing remnants into an overall regional population several thousand bears in the Northern Rockies and North Cascades. This alternative strategy outlines the steps necessary to achieve that goal. They are:

- Expand the proposed recovery zones in areas of public land where there is room for grizzly bears to increase their distribution and abundance.

- Restore habitat linkages between currently isolated populations.

- Restore grizzly bears to significant portions of their former range where they are currently absent or in critically low numbers.

- Maintain and restore the wilderness character of grizzly bear habitat through careful management of roads on public lands.

- Improve existing habitat through careful management of resource utilization activities in grizzly bear habitat.

- Enter into a formal agreement with Canada for the joint management of the grizzly bear populations we share.

If these steps are taken, a healthy network of linked grizzly bear populations totalling several thousand bears can be restored to the large wildland areas of the Northern Rockies and the North Cascades. This species would no longer be in short-term peril and grizzly bear management could return to a more routine affair. If these steps are not taken, we can expect the smaller existing populations to wink out fairly quickly and the species to be lost entirely south of Canada over the course of the next century or two." (1)

Why the government plan fails
"The government's approach to grizzly bear recovery in the lower 48 states is a contradiction in terms and is bound to fail. By relying on a handful of small, isolated population units, it violates every rule that population viability analysis has taught aout the general requirements for longer-term viability. It confuses short-term stabilization with long-term recovery and will produce neither." (4)

The broader view
"What we have proposed for the grizzly bear will undoubtedly seem like a lot of effort if viewed in the context of just one species. But that is the narrow view By weaving back together the big remaining pieces of functional wilderness, we can keep a viable native ecosystem in the northern Rockies and all the species it supports. If we don't, the grizzly will just be among the first to go." (15)

*Sierra Club, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Wilderness Society, Environmental Defense Fund, and National Audubon Society commissioned this report.