But that's nothing compared to the struggle of the Pyrenees brown bear, a beleaguered cousin whose numbers have dwindled to fewer than two dozen in the mountains that separate France and Spain.
In an effort to learn more about grizzlies' ongoing recovery in the Northern Rockies, a group of French government and wildlife officials will meet with U.S. bear biologists, ranchers, conservationists, Missoula County commissioners and others in Missoula this month.
The meetings, which start Feb. 25, will be the latest in trans-Atlantic bear discussions for Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Servheen has worked with Jean-Jacques Camarra, a brown bear biologist in the French Ministry of the Environment, for two decades, accompanying him into the Pyrenees and hosting him on previous visits to the Northern Rockies.
French officials have reintroduced a handful of European brown bears into the Pyrenees and would like to release more, but farmers oppose the conservation efforts, saying the bears attack their sheep.
The French authorities “want to learn more about how we manage bears, especially our successes and failures” in limiting conflicts with livestock and people, Servheen said.
The French delegation will visit Missoula, Yellowstone National Park and other western Montana sites. The visit is being coordinated by Chantal Moser, a Missoula resident who is an honorary consul to France.
European brown bears, cousin of the North American grizzly, once numbered in the thousands in the high valleys and pine forests of the Pyrenees, but hunting and habitat loss reduced their population to about a dozen by the 1980s.
In an effort to restore their numbers and genetic diversity, French officials imported three brown bears from Slovenia in 1996 and another five in 2006 and released them into the Pyrenees.
Slovenia's healthy population of brown bears has been used to increase bruin populations elsewhere in Europe for years.
Despite their status as a protected species and the released bears producing several cubs, the Pyrenees bear population has remained at about 20, making them one of the smallest remnants of brown bears in the world.
An estimated 100 bears are needed to establish a viable population, but French officials, who track the bears with radio collars, have proceeded cautiously with the reintroduction program because of protests by farmers.
The farmers say bears have killed hundreds of their sheep and stress their flocks, although the World Wildlife Fund estimates bears account for less than 1 percent of sheep deaths in the Pyrenees.
Servheen said the Pyrenees' rocky pastures are difficult for bears because the forage is meager and the region's small rural villages have relied on sheep ranching for generations.
The bears mostly eat beechnuts, acorns and other vegetation, but “the mountains are filled with sheep all summer long and the bears have trouble staying away from them,” he said.
The central government reimburses farmers for livestock killed by bears, but they resent being pushed to use more guard dogs, electric fences and other methods to protect their sheep, Servheen said.
“It's hard to reintroduce bears and not have some conflict,” he said. “Montana has a lot of wild country and bear habitat compared to places like France. They just don't have enough space.”
The French delegation also will meet with Charles Jonkel, a retired University of Montana professor who has worked with grizzly, polar and black bears, and his son Jamie Jonkel, a bear biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Charles Jonkel said he will discuss partnerships between government agencies and nonprofit groups - such as Vital Ground, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and the Blackfoot Challenge - that promote habitat conservation and public education.
Jonkel said the biggest challenge is convincing people that bears are a natural part of the ecosystem and that the two species can co-exist on the same landscape.
“The big thing isn't so much getting the bears in, but getting the local people to understand and accept it,” he said.
Jonkel said he would advise the French to persist in their public outreach.
“Probably the most important ingredient is patience,” he said. “People will eventually turn around.”
Reporter John Cramer can be reached at 523-5259 or at johncramer@missoulian.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)