The Conservation Biology Alternative for Grizzly Bear Population Restoration
in the Greater Salmon-Selway Region Central Idaho and Western Montana

I. PURPOSE

The purpose of this alternative is to reestablish a large subpopulation of grizzly bears in the Greater Salmon-Selway region of central Idaho and extreme western Montana, to become part of a larger metapopulation of grizzly bears throughout the Northern Rockies states. This effort should be viewed in the context of grizzly bear recovery efforts throughout the Northern Rockies. Population viability analysis has revealed that to ensure longterm viability ( a 95% or better chance of surviving for several hundred years), a population of grizzlies in the Northern Rockies will need to consist of approximately 2,000 bears or more (Allendorf, et al. 1991; Shaffer 1992). This population would likely be spread throughout the core areas of the Northern Rockies at a density of about one bear per 25 square miles (Metzgar and Bader 1992; Craighead et al. 1995). At this density, approximately 50,000 square miles of secure habitat are required to support a viable population of grizzly bears (Metzgar and Bader 1992). Secure habitat is defined as roadless areas of 5,400 acres or greater (Mattson 1991) or low road density habitat (0.25 miles of road per square mile or less). These areas cannot be effective in isolation but must be linked together as a network of secure areas.

Fortunately, this amount of secure habitat area still exists in the Northern Rockies bioregion. Unfortunately, it is not contiguous. Rather, it exists as a series of semi-isolated blocks of wildlands. Conservation biologists agree that it may still be possible to maintain a landscape in the Northern Rockies that will sustain a viable population of 2,000 grizzly bears, but this population will consist of a series of subpopulations linked into a metapopulation by corridors, which together could comprise a genetically diverse, viable population.

In order to move towards reestablishment of a self-sustaining, viable population of grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies, a significant sub-population of grizzly bears must be reestablished in the Greater Salmon-Selway region of central Idaho and extreme western Montana. Geographic Information System analysis (Ecology Center 1995) has identified a proposed population recovery zone covering approximately 21,645 square miles. Not all of this area is currently secure habitat, and some areas may have limited value as grizzly habitat. Still, this region represents the largest block of secure wildland habitat remaining in the lower 48 states. In the contiguous states, grizzlies now occur only in association with large blocks of national park, designated wilderness, and other lands with little human intrusion (Metzgar and Bader 1992). As such, the Salmon-Selway region is the unoccupied link among the triangle of large core areas of suitable grizzly bear habitat in the Northern Rockies, comprised of the Greater Yellowstone area, the Glacier Park/Bob Marshall area, and the Salmon-Selway region (see Figure 1). It is potentially capable of supporting a relatively large population of grizzly bears distributed over a large geographic region and is the ideal candidate for a project to reestablish a grizzly population.

This population will be linked by habitat linkage corridors to other grizzly bear populations in the Northern Rockies to form a regional metapopulation. In this way, there is still hope that land and wildlife managers can design a management system that can achieve a self-sustaining population of 2,000 grizzly bears throughout the Northern Rockies states.

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