WASHINGTON — The majestic grizzly bear, once king of the Western wilderness but threatened with extinction for a third of a century, has roared back in Montana.
The finding, from a $4.8 million, five-year study of grizzly-bear DNA, could help ease restrictions on oil and gas drilling, logging and other development.
Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey announced Tuesday that there are approximately 765 bears in northwestern Montana.
That’s the largest population of grizzly bears documented there in more than 30 years, and a sign that the species could be at long last recovering.
The first-ever scientific census shattered earlier estimates that said there were at least 250-350 bears roaming an 8 million-acre area stretching from north of Missoula to the Canadian border. More recent data placed the minimum population at around 563 bears.
In a February 2003 floor speech, Sen. John McCain poked fun at the project, describing a scenario where the DNA would be used to help a bear cub find its father, or pin down which bear stole hikers’ food.
In a campaign ad, he called the expenditure “unbelievable.” Supporters of the research included Montana ranchers, farmers and GOP leaders. They pushed for the study as a step toward taking the grizzly bear off the endangered-species list.
The study employed more than 200 field workers. Over 14 weeks in 2004, they collected hair samples from 2,500 barbed-wire hair traps and 4,800 trees that bears naturally rub against to scratch themselves. A mixture of pureed fish guts and cattle blood that was aged in 100 55-gallon steel drums in a rented barn for more than a year before the study began lured bears to the sampling stations.
The result was the most accurate and precise census of a bear population to date, bear experts said. The study’s results will be a key piece of evidence used by biologists to determine whether the bear still needs federal protection, a conclusion due early next year.
