In 2020, the Montana legislature passed a law requiring the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to seek approval for grizzly bear release sites. In the past, grizzlies were released wherever managers thought was appropriate.

For the safety of the grizzly bears, the bear managers, and the public, it’s critical for managers to have as many approved release sites as possible. No one knows what the weather or road conditions might be at any given time or place, and grizzlies need to be released shortly after they have been captured, not after the weather or road conditions improve. It’s also important to be able to move grizzlies as far away from problems as possible to reduce the likelihood that a bear will return. Finally, it’s important that some release sites should be available in areas where the grizzlies might be able to travel into other grizzly core areas to ensure that the population retains genetic diversity.

With this in mind, we recently submitted a comment in support of grizzly bear relocation sites 208 and 188, which are in the Ninemile Valley close to the Great Burn. You can view our comment letter here.