APPENDIX A 



DRAFT 



FINAL REPORT OF THE GOVERNORS' ROUNDTABLE ON THE 



DRAFT CONSERVATION STRATEGY FOR THE GRIZZLY BEAR IN THE 



YELLOWSTONE AREA 



May 30, 2000 



Executive Summary 



The Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee (YES) of the Interagency Grizzly Bear 

 Committee (IGBC) produced a draft Conservation Strategy for tiie Grizzly Bear in the 

 Yellowstone Area. This document outlines a cooperative management strategy to be 

 implemented by state and federal agencies upon delisting of this population of grizzly 

 bears. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that completion of, and a 

 commitment to implement, such a plan is a necessary prerequisite to delisting. The FWS 

 took the lead in drafting the document, with assistance from technical staff from other 

 agencies in the YES. 



At the request of the state members of the IGBC, the Governors of Idaho, Montana and 

 Wyoming agreed to appoint a 1 5 member citizen roundtable to review the draft 

 conservation strategy. The role of the roundtable was to develop consensus 

 recommendations the Governors could use in formulating the states' responses to the 

 draft. 



The roundtable met three times in the spring of 2000 to discuss the draft conservation 

 strategy. A neutral party facilitated meetings. Staff from the three state wildlife 

 agencies, the FWS and the U.S. Forest Service provided technical advice to the 

 roundtable during and between meetings. All meetings were open to the public. 



Given the limited time available and the technical nature of much of the document, the 

 roundtable took a policy level view of the draft conservation strategy. They identified a 

 number of issues and generated the following set of recommendations. The roundtable 

 reached complete consensus on all of these items. 



The roundtable affirmed the conceptual approach of maintaining a Primary Conservation 

 Area (PCA) managed conservatively to protect a core of secure habitat and bear numbers. 

 They endorsed the proposed size and management of the PCA, which corresponds to the 

 current Recovery Zone. 



The most significant concern that surfaced during the roundtable discussions was 

 uncertainty regarding management of bears and habitat outside the PCA. Enviromnental 

 and sportsmen interests fear that bears will be forever limited to the PCA, while 

 commodity interests fear that severe restrictions on land use could expand with the bear. 



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