CHEYENNE, Wyo. – After a record number of grizzly bear deaths in 2018, groups are calling for an update to a decade-old report on conflict prevention.

Six conservation groups have sent a letter to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee's Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee.

They're urging members to develop new recommendations for avoiding conflict involving bears, people and livestock and also evaluate how well the 2009 report was implemented.

There were 65 known grizzly deaths in 2018 and almost 250 since 2015, with nearly all of them from human-related causes.

Bonnie Rice, senior representative with the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign, notes the 2009 report still can be a good resource.

"It did have a lot of good recommendations in it, but many of those have not been implemented, in terms of measures to prevent conflicts,” she points out. “And so it's really past time to update that report and take another look at this, considering how many grizzly bears we're losing every year."

Rice emphasizes that the mortality count is just known deaths – many more go undocumented.

She adds that the committee should work to implement a new report with additional recommendations before this year's hunting season, when most deaths occur.

The letter says bear-management agencies should follow through with a 2009 report recommendation to create a database of bear deaths going back at least five years.

Conflict patterns with grizzlies have changed over the past decade. Many of the 2009 report's recommendations were for hunters.

The groups that authored this letter say more focus should be on reducing conflict between grizzlies and livestock managers, who see the species as a threat.

But Wendy Keefover, native carnivore protection manager for the Humane Society of the United States, says the bears are responsible for such a small fraction of depredations that the number is practically zero.

"With all native carnivores put together, plus domestic dogs, the total predation is minuscule, but the biggest problem that livestock growers are what we call maladies,” she explains. “So birthing problems, respiratory problems."

Keefover says these maladies cause about nine times more livestock deaths than all predators combined. She adds that even lightning strikes cause far more deaths than predators.

Keefover says there are examples of reduced conflicts, such as the Blackfoot Challenge where ranchers use electric fencing and other techniques and have reduced incidents by more than 70 percent.

"We know that we can coexist very well with grizzly bears,” she stresses. “It just takes some effort, and it's effort on our part. And if we don't do it, we risk losing grizzly bears forever. They're a conservation-reliant species."

The committee overseeing management of Yellowstone grizzlies meets in April.


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Nine conservation groups are calling on wildlife agencies in Wyoming and Idaho to require black bear hunters to take a bear identification course before getting a hunting license.

Kristin Combs, executive director of the group Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, said at least 14 Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears were killed between 2010 and 2022 because of mistaken identity, and added the actual number is likely much higher.

"There are also 113 cases of mortalities still under investigation," Combs pointed out. "Seventy-one percent of those cases actually are in Wyoming. There's likely a higher mortality through mistaken identity."

Last month, a man shot a 530-pound grizzly bear just outside Yellowstone National Park, claiming he thought it was a black bear. Wyoming Game and Fish said it is reviewing the proposal, but recent moves by Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon suggests the state is moving in the opposite direction. Gordon has called for restoring trophy hunting, and recently filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for taking too long to remove Endangered Species Act protections for all grizzlies in the state.

Combs noted relying on color alone to identify a black bear is problematic because grizzlies and black bears often display multiple colors. She pointed to Montana's bear identification course where hunters learn to spot key differences. For example, grizzly bears have smaller, more rounded ears that are fuzzier than the ears of black bears, which seem larger in proportion to head size, longer, more erect, and pointed.

"And a grizzly bear, it's going to have a hump behind its head, which is a mass of muscles they use for tearing open carcasses and logs," Combs emphasized. "It's going to have more of a disc shaped profile on its nose. Black bears usually have just a very straight down profile."

Combs believes the loss of even a single grizzly is a threat to the species' full recovery, especially for bears trying to connect with more genetically diverse populations outside Yellowstone. She added it is ultimately up to Wyoming Game and Fish and other state agencies to protect the iconic species people from all over the world travel to see in the wild.

"I think it really just all goes back to a hunter knowing their target before they shoot," Combs stressed. "Pulling the trigger on a gun, it's a serious act. If you're not 100% certain about what is at the other end of that barrel, you just shouldn't take the shot."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife and National Forest Services are headed back to the drawing board after a federal appeals court ruled that the authorization to kill up to 72 grizzly bears, including females, on public lands near Yellowstone National Park violated federal law.

Andrea Zaccardi - carnivore conservation program legal director with the Center for Biological Diversity - said grizzlies have one of the lowest reproduction rates of all mammals, and the survival of females is critical for the bears' recovery.

"The removal of even a few female grizzly bears can significantly impact the health of the population," said Zaccardi. "It takes a female grizzly bear ten years to replace herself in the wild."

The agencies argued that removing 72 bears would be consistent with population goals for the entire Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Conservationists are urging the Forest Service to order ranchers to use nonlethal options to avoid conflicts - including removing all livestock carcasses and consistently using range riders to monitor herds - and stop killing female bears, while they reconsider their analysis.

A Forest Service spokesperson deferred to Fish and Wildlife's authority to manage grizzlies. When asked to comment, Fish and Wildlife declined.

Before being hunted to the brink of extinction, some 50,000 grizzlies roamed the lower 48 states. Today there are fewer than two thousand.

Zaccardi said the Fish and Wildlife Service's own data acknowledges the importance of female grizzlies to the health of populations.

"In the past, (the agencies) have generally considered a limit on how many female grizzly bears can be killed in the Upper Green project area," said Zaccardi. "This is one of the first times that they completely ignored that aspect."

People come to Wyoming from all over the world for the opportunity to see a grizzly bear in the wild. Zaccardi pointed out that there are currently just five isolated populations in the lower 48.

"And Yellowstone is one of the best places to see them," said Zaccardi. "So the local economies rely very heavily on the tourism industry that support the local businesses and the towns that surround Yellowstone National Park."




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Nevadans will have the opportunity to learn more and weigh in on a proposed public lands rule that shifts the Bureau of Land Management's focus to prioritize wildlife conservation and protecting cultural resources. Tomorrow, the B-L-M invites the public to an in-person meeting
in Reno to better understand the proposal.

Russell Kuhlman, Executive Director for the Nevada Wildlife Federation, said the measure would help the agency put conservation efforts "on par and act as a balance," with recreational and commercial uses of public lands such as grazing, energy development and camping.

"The land is not built for continuous extraction without some conservation in order to make it sustainable, and what this conservation ruling does is hopefully take a big step in that direction," he said.

Kuhlman contended the B-L-M is "getting pulled in a lot of different directions because of the scope of work they're required to do." He says the proposed rule could "open the door," he said, for conservation groups to help out potentially underfunded and understaffed B-L-M offices, and aid in habitat rehabilitation.

Kuhlman added the proposed rule adds "another tool box within the conservation community," and takes what he calls a "proactive, boots on the ground approach," to help prevent further habitat degradation. The agency says if they receive an application for a conservation lease that conflicts with an existing grazing permit or lease, that conservation lease would not be approved. Kuhlman said the proposal
aims to level the playing field for the various uses taking place on public lands.

"There are some questions out there from different stakeholders and what they're concerned about is, is this conservation ruling going to be a tool to eliminate grazing or prevent energy resource development from happening on public lands. And that is not the case. "

Kuhlman says he is "excited" about the conservation ruling. He says it could help mitigate the degradation the sagebrush sea is experiencing. According to the agency roughly one-point-three million acres of sagebrush are degraded annually. In addition to tomorrow's meeting, the B-L-M will also hold a virtual meeting on the proposal on Monday, June 5th.