But like well-heeled college graduates not quite ready to tackle life unassisted, the animals could soon get a trust fund to shield them from hard times.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now spends about $6 million a year on grizzly bears and wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. With Yellowstone-area grizzlies recently taken off the threatened species list and gray wolves expected to come off the endangered list within the next year, that spending will likely drop as the agency turns its resources to other imperiled species.
The trust eventually could total tens of millions of dollars, possibly up to $100 million, according to officials drafting plans for the fund. The 5 to 7 percent annual interest on the principle would cover costs to hire wildlife biologists, buy radio collars used to track bear and wolf movements and other expenses.
Congress would be asked to fund the bulk of the trust, which would be set up through a quasi-governmental group such as the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Additional money could come from states, corporations or nonprofit groups, the officials said.
Mitch King, regional FWS director, said the idea is a recognition that Montana, Idaho and Wyoming should not shoulder the costs of sustaining grizzlies and wolves alone.
“There is a national responsibility that the federal government needs to deal with,” he said. “If you live in Georgia and want to see a grizzly bear, you come to Idaho or Montana or Wyoming.”
The trust initially would focus on Yellowstone grizzlies, which came off the threatened species list last month, said Chris Smith, chief of staff for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. It could be expanded later to include management of wolves and possibly several other grizzly populations that remain on the threatened list.
“Monitoring, addressing potential conflicts, managing the populations n those are all things that happen day-in, day-out, whether they’re delisted or not,” Smith said.
A financial pinch already is being felt by a second Montana grizzly bear population, an estimated 600 to 800 bears inhabiting mountains along the Continental Divide north of Missoula. The monitoring program for those bears is $400,000 short this year, meaning the state will have to turn to its congressional delegation for a one-time payment to cover the difference, said state wildlife administrator Ken McDonald.
A trust, he said, would provide stability in such cases and remove the issue from the political whims of Congress.
Hank Fischer, who worked on the grizzly recovery effort through the National Wildlife Federation, said convincing politicians and private interest groups to buy into the plan should be easy compared to the 30-year effort to rebuild grizzly and wolf populations. The only hurdle, he added, is if seed money for the trust is forced to compete with other budget needs, such as paying for the war in Iraq.
“The tough sell was whether we ought to restore some of these species,” Fischer said. “Now that we have these species back, I think there’s pretty good consensus that we need to manage them.”
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