Managing Forests for "The Griz"

Grizzly bears have boundary issues.

In northwest Montana, about a thousand of them wander the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

That eight-million-acre expanse includes Glacier National Park, at least six counties, two Indian reservations, and five national forests. And the bears are ready for more.

To deal with that growing population and territory -- as well as the potential that grizzlies could soon be removed from the federal endangered species list -- those five national forests are considering a single habitat management plan that would keep all the U.S. Forest Service folks on the same page, bear-wise.

There’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg challenge here.

Grizzly bears were listed as a federally protected, threatened species in 1975 and placed under the care of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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