Protection to Grizzly Bear
Within the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concentrate its effort to restore grizzly bears in six recovery areas. These are Northern Continental Divide (Montana), Yellowstone (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho), Cabinet-Yaak (Montana and Idaho), Selway-Bitterroot (Montana and Idaho), Selkirk (Idaho and Washington), and North Cascades (Washington). The grizzly population in these areas is estimated at 750 in the Northern Continental Divide, 550 in Yellowstone, 40 in the Yaak portion of the Cabinet-Yaak, and 15 in the Cabinet portion (in northwestern Montana), 105 in Selkirk region of Idaho, 10–20 in the North Cascades, and none currently in Selway-Bitterroots, although there have been sightings. These are estimates because bears move in and out of these areas, and it is therefore impossible to conduct a precise count. In the recovery areas that adjoin Canada, bears also move back and forth across the international boundary.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claims that the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk areas are linked through British Columbia, a claim that is disputed.
All national parks, such as Banff National Park, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and Theodore Roosevelt National Park have laws and regulations in place to protect the bears. Even so, grizzlies are not always safe in parks. In Glacier National Park in Montana and Banff National Park in Alberta, grizzlies are regularly killed by trains as the bears scavenge for grain that has leaked from poorly maintained grain cars. Road kills on park roads are another problem. The primary limiting factors for grizzly bears in Alberta and elsewhere are human-caused mortality, unmitigated road access, and habitat loss, alienation, and fragmentation. In the Central Rocky Mountains Ecosystem, most bears have died within a few hundred meters of roads and trails.
On March 22, 2007, the U.S. government stated that grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) no longer need Endangered Species Act protection. Several environmental organizations, including the NRDC, have since brought a lawsuit against the federal government to re-list the grizzly bear. On September 22, 2009, United States District Judge Donald W. Molloy reinstated the grizzlies' protected status due to the decline of whitebark pine tree, whose nuts are a main source of food for the bears.
Farther north, in Alberta, Canada, intense DNA hair-snagging studies on 2000 showed the grizzly population to be increasing faster than what it was formerly believed to be, and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development calculated a population of 841 bears. In 2002, the Endangered Species Conservation Committee recommended that the Alberta grizzly bear population be designated as Threatened due to recent estimates of grizzly bear mortality rates that indicated that the population was in decline. A recovery plan released by the Provincial government in March 2008 indicates that the grizzly population is lower than previously believed. The Provincial government has so far resisted efforts to designate its declining population of about 700 grizzlies (previously estimated at as high as 842) as endangered.
Environment Canada considers the Grizzly bear to a "special concern" species, as it is particularly sensitive to human activities and natural threats. In Alberta and British Columbia, the species is considered to be at risk.
Recently the International Union for Conservation of Nature moved the Grizzly bear to "Lower Risk Least Concern" status on the IUCN Red List.
The Mexican Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos nelsoni) is extinct.
Conservation Efforts
In 2008 it was estimated that there were 16,014 grizzly bears in the British Columbia population. As of 2002 Grizzly Bears were listed as Special Concern under the COSEWIC registry and considered threatened under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Conservation efforts have become an increasingly vital investment over recent decades as population numbers have dramatically declined. Establishment of Parks and protected areas are one of the main focuses currently being tackled to help reestablish the low grizzly bear population in British Columbia. One example of these efforts is The Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary located along the north coast of British Columbia and 44,300 hectares in size, composed of key habitat for this threatened species. Regulations such as limited public access as well as a strict no hunting policy have enabled this location to be a safe haven for local Grizzlies in the area. When choosing the location of a park focused on grizzly bear conservation, factors such as habitat quality and connectivity to other habitat patches must be considered. To maximize protection for grizzly bears in protected areas, regulations should also be put in place once the park is created. These generally include a ban on hunting and limited human visitation and access.
The Refuge for Endangered Wildlife located on Grouse Mountain in Vancouver is an example of a different type of conservation effort for the diminishing Grizzly Bear population. The refuge is a five-acre terrain which has functioned as a home for two orphaned Grizzly Bears since 2001. The purpose of this refuge is to provide awareness and education to the public surrounding Grizzly Bears, as well as providing an area for research and observation of this secluded species.
Another factor of currently being taken into consideration when designing conservation plans for future generations are anthropogenic barriers in the form of urban development and roads. These elements are acting as obstacles causing fragmentation of the remaining grizzly bear population habitat and prevention of gene flow between subpopulations (For example: in Banff National Park). This in turn is creating a decline in genetic diversity, and therefore the overall fitness of the general population is lowered. In light of these issues conservation plans often include migration corridors by way of long strips of “park forest” to connect less developed areas, or by way of tunnels and overpasses over busy roads. Using GPS collar tracking scientists can study whether or not these efforts are actually making a positive contribution towards resolving the problem. To date it has been found that most corridors are infrequently used and thus genetic isolation is currently occurring, which can result in inbreeding and therefore an increased frequency of deleterious genes through genetic drift. Current data suggests that female grizzly bears are disproportionately less likely than males to use these corridors, which can prevent mate access and decrease the number of offspring.