9. An attempt will be made to document grizzly bear range expansions or contractions 

 through data gathering. This data will help evaluate changes in the population status. 



10. Based on all available evidence, changes in management areas or management unit 

 boundaries will be evaluated. 



11. The number of control actions will be determined annually. If a trend is apparent in four 

 or five years of analysis, then the program will be re-evaluated and adjustments made to 

 ensure the population is not being excessively impacted. The number of transplants 

 from, or into, the ecosystems will be documented. 



12. Grizzly bear management policies in Wyoming and Idaho will be evaluated in relation to 

 FWP policies. If excessive mortality is occurring in a neighboring state, the FWP 

 program will be adjusted to ensure survival of the population, and FWP will work with 

 that state to reduce mortality. 



13. Evaluation of mortality statistics will be conducted. It is recognized that not all bear 

 deaths are detected and recorded. FWP will, however, try to be as complete as possible. 

 The following mortality statistics are of particular importance: 



a. Male/female sex ratio. 



b. Median age of harvest should any occur: median ages should be calculated 

 separately for males and females. 



c. Determine total mortality: trends in total number of bears should be evaluated in 

 conjunction with other population estimates and/or statistics to determine if 

 changes in mortality quotas are needed. It is anticipated that human caused 

 mortality quotas will be very conservative at 4% or less of the total population on 

 a 6 year running average with no more than 30% females to allow for continued 

 increased populations. This recommendation is based on past experience with 

 grizzly bear management in northwestern Montana as reported in the 

 Programmatic HIS for that area and subsequent updates. 



d. A summary of mortality from 1992-2001 is presented in Table 4. 



14. Annually monitor, record, and evaluate litter sizes throughout the ecosystems. 



15. Evaluate hunter effort if a hunt occurs. Changes in hunter effort, location of hunt, etc., 

 will substantially aid interpretation of population statistics. 



Table 4. Grizzly bear mortalities in southwest Montana, 1 992-2001 . 



As an alternative, FWP has considered the collection of population data in a manner that would 

 provide statistically precise population estimates. For a slowly reproducing species like grizzly 

 bears in which even a maximum lambda will always be close to 1 .0 (meaning the populations 

 don't fluctuate greatly on an annual basis), it will seldom be possible to have a 95% confidence 

 interval that does not overlap 1.0. However, in FWP's judgment, using the weight of evidence 



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