“The distribution of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) at the southern edge of their North American range includes 5 mountain peninsulas extending from the continguous northern distributions. In several cases, these peninsulas cross into the conterminous United States. The long-term survival of these populations may depend on the retention of demographic links to the continguous northern distribution. We investigated whether a major transportation corridor fragments the population of grizzly bears in the Central Rocky Mountain Ecosystem.” (Abstract)

“Our data suggests that female movement across the human transportation corridor has been negligible and male movement has been reduced from historic levels.” (Abstract)

“The mechanism causing the Highway 3 corridor to disrupt bear movement is likely a combination of bears avioding areas with high levels of human activity (Mattson et al. 1987) and high levels of mortality in the corridor (Mace and Waller 1999, McLellan et al. 1999).” (158)

“At this time, there appears to be some fractions of historic levels of male bear movements and very little if any female movements across the Highway 3 corridor in the Rocky Mountains. Continued devolopment may further decreace bear movement across the fracture. We recommend the establishment of linkage zones that connect the best available grizzly bear habitat at several locations across the corridor as suggested by Apps (1997). these zones would offer potential benefits to other species as well.” (158)