IGBC Proposes Grizzly Hunting

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee wraps up its 3-day winter meeting today in Missoula, Montana.  Topping the committee’s agenda on the first day was the question of using regulated hunting as a management tool once the grizzly population in an ecosystem has recovered.  Spokesman Gregg Losinski says the group pointed out that as yet, there are no populations that are ready to be delisted yet.  He says there was no policy being created, no quotas or numbers; just a support of the concept.  He says the method has been used for over 100 years in the United States and Canada with sports men and women actually doing the conservation work for the most part while paying for the priviledge.  To that end, Losinski says the research involving the dwindling supplies of whitebark pine in the Yellowstone region still needs to be completed.  Once that issue is resolved potentially clearing the way for delisting, the ruling against delisting the bear there could be appealed and state management of the bear could be pursued.