Population and habitat research is already being conducted as part of an on-going monitoring program. 

 In addition to these projects, Montana requires improved means of assessing the biological carrying 

 capacity of actual or potential grizzly bear habitats. Understanding habitat capability through intensive 

 research utilizing GIS technology may assist with this and USPS is already engaged in such research. 

 Such assessments are important to ensure that restoration efforts for grizzly bears are successful in areas 

 where expansion is occurring. It also allows management policy to adapt to environmental change 

 thereby ensuring long-term persistence. As such, adaptive management is an active flexible management 

 strategy in which managers monitor the results of management practices using habitat and population 

 data and respond as necessary with management changes. An Adaptive Management plan includes 

 three critical elements: 



1. Conceptual and quantitative models that make explicit the current understanding of the system, 

 the underlying hypotheses driving management, and key uncertainties; 



2. Rigorous monitoring plans focused on reducing the most critical uncertainties and clearly 

 evaluating progress towards management goals; and 



3. A scientifically defensible plan for monitoring and research including rapid feedback from 

 management outcomes to revised management decisions. 



PWP is also interested in evaluating the efficacy and projected outcomes of specific management actions. 

 This will be accomplished through a combination of the monitoring effort and research efforts to evaluate 

 management strategies in various settings. Por example, by investigating bear use, human use and 

 human-bear conflicts in areas with high human occupancy such as portions of the NCDE, managers and 

 local communities will in a position to adopt changes and reduce the likelihood of human-bear conflicts. 



Continued improvements based on assessing potential impacts of hunting will provide useful data 

 because grizzly bears have one of the lowest reproductive rates among North American mammals. 

 Without such techniques, appropriate hunting opportunities may be needlessly curtailed, or populations 

 overharvested. Ongoing assessments such as this are part of other wildlife management programs and 

 will be for grizzly bears. 



Further research aimed at investigating the importance of anthropogenic impacts on bear habitats is 

 required. As documented elsewhere, roads, commercial activities (mining, logging), livestock grazing, 

 suburban sprawl, and recreational uses (i.e. snowmachining, off road vehicles) may impact the ability of 

 bear populations to persist in an area. More intensive research is required to determine threshold levels 

 at which such impacts become significant as well as possible ways to mitigate adverse human impacts on 

 grizzly bear populations. Similarly, it is important to find ways to identify threshold levels of tolerance 

 for adverse impacts of grizzly bears on humans. Additional research on genetic conservation, 

 deterrent/repellants, and conflict management would also be helpful. 



Efforts to restore grizzly bears also require better information on economic and ecological costs and 

 benefits of bears and social attitudes towards bears. Among other reasons, such informahon is needed to 

 demonstrate the value of preserving wildlife movement and access to habitats. 



H. COSTS AND FUNDING 



PWP believes that the key to successful implementation of these programs is the establishment of 

 dependable long-term funding. PWPs goal is to seek adequate funding from a diversity of sources to 

 enable the program to be implemented. Preferred approaches include: 



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