Alliance: Court win for Idaho grizzlies

The Alliance for Wild Rockies is declaring victory for Selkirk grizzly bears following a recent federal court decision protecting its habitat in North Idaho.

In the case, the U.S. District Court of Idaho order found the challenged government action “Hanna Flats” violated federal law, a press release said.

"The government’s own management plan for the area limits road construction in the area to protect grizzly bears, because roads in grizzly habitat are the primary threat to this species," the release said. "The court found that the government had been violating the road construction limit for many years, and was continuing to violate it with this new action."

According to court records, the case concerns Alliance for the Wild Rockies’s claim that the Hanna Flats Good Neighbor Authority Project on the Priest Lake Ranger District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest will harm grizzly bears. 

Specifically, Alliance claims that the U.S. Forest Service’s Oct. 11, 2018, Decision Memo approving the project violates the 2011 Forest Plan Amendments for Motorized Access Management within the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones.

"Because the Hanna Flats Good Neighbor Authority Project’s implementation will violate the Access Amendment Record of Decision baselines for total and open road mileage in the Priest Bears Outside Recovery Zone area, Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment is largely granted, while Defendants’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment is largely denied," according to the court decision.

The Selkirk grizzly bear is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. 

"Updated Selkirk grizzly bear monitoring reports identify a minimum population of approximately 50 bears, with increasing human-caused mortality averages in recent years," according to the March 31 decision. "One of the undisputed threats to grizzly bears is roads."

It states that “Roads probably pose the most imminent threat to grizzly habitat today and that it is "strongly recommended that road management be given the highest priority within all recovery zones."

The alliance said the "Selkirk grizzly bear population is in dire straits," with only 50, while the minimum needed for recovery is 100 bears.  

"The bears suffer from human-caused mortality at a rate of about 2.7 bears killed by humans per year, and those rates violate the limits set by the government for recovery," the release said. 

It said the mortality rate is "so high for this tiny population that there are only three years on record with higher mortality since record keeping began over 30 years ago. 

"There is really no hope of recovery for this imperiled population unless the government starts complying with road density limits to protect grizzly bear habitat. This court decision is one step in the right direction — the path to recovery," the release said.

The release said the court also found that the government’s attempt to change the management plan to allow more roads without the required public process for an official “amendment” to the management plan was also illegal.  

The U.S. Forest Service, in an email to The Press on Monday, wrote, "With this being a recent court decision, we are not able to comment on it now."

Idaho Department of Fish and Game also declined to comment.