Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 22

Much of the price tag for the work the Wyoming Game and Fish Department does with grizzly bears comes from
sportspeople who purchase hunting and fishing licenses and conservation stamps, along with federal excise taxes on
hunting and recreational shooting equipment. (WGFD photo)

Fish. They raise them to sell on the open livestock
market, " Nesvik said.
One solution for landowners would be state management, where decisions could be made quicker and
populations could be proactively managed to reduce
conflicts.

" DECISIONS MADE BY ON-THE-GROUND
WYOMING MANAGERS OF THE GRIZZLY WILL
ALWAYS BE MORE RESPONSIVE AND MORE ACCURATE
THAN MANAGEMENT DECISIONS MADE BY THOSE IN
AN OFFICE HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY. "
" Decisions made by on-the-ground Wyoming
managers of the grizzly will always be more responsive and more accurate than management decisions
made by those in an office hundreds of miles away, "
said Albert Sommers, Sublette County rancher in the
Green River Valley and Representative for Wyoming
House District 20.
Instead, to reactively account for losses, the Game
and Fish Commission pays for verified damages. That
expectation has been in place for decades. The payout is calculated through a loss formula based on
22 | December 2020

confirmed livestock losses due to grizzly bears. In the
last five years, Game and Fish paid an average of about
$378,000 annually in sportsperson funds to livestock
producers. These figures have steadily increased over
time. The state can offer few solutions to landowners
while the bear is under federal management, short of
being a phone call away to help when trouble arises.
" We have tremendous working relationships with
landowners and livestock producers, and they are
proud to have been part of the recovery efforts for
grizzly bears, " Thompson said. " At the same time,
they were told things would change - that we would
work to resolve conflicts, handle the situation and get
bears under state management. We keep meeting the
recovery goals, but the grizzly is perpetually listed,
despite having recovered the animal on the ground.
At the end of the day, I think most of the frustration is
that we can't move forward on all the successful work
and move away from federal oversight. "
Wyoming landowners aren't the only group working in grizzly country who've been forced to contend
with overflowing bears. Outfitters and guides have
changed practices to make hunting in grizzly territory
as safe as possible, such as hunting in groups, storing
and hanging meat away from camp and not hunting
in late afternoon and evening hours. Outfitters and
guides still grapple with a tragedy that occurred in
2018 when a hunting guide was fatally mauled by a
grizzly bear on Terrace Mountain in the Teton Wilderness, about 44 miles northeast of Jackson.
Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association President Sy Gilliland said outfitters are proud they contributed to the bear making a strong comeback, but
said the challenges of a large population are becoming
unwieldy without state management authority.
" No one who operates in griz country wants to see
bears going away. We are really proud of the fact that
we contributed to the grizzly bear making a strong
comeback, " Gilliland said. " But, the habitat is full
and busting at the seams with bears. Something has
to be done. Wildlife should be managed at the state
level and be within the purview of Wyoming Game
and Fish, and that includes grizzly bears. "
Sportspeople share in that sentiment. Josh Coursey
of the Muley Fanatic Foundation put a voice to the
frustration he hears, especially as conflict grows with
recovery.
" We have to do something different. The sportsperson continues to carry a heavy financial burden without a gainful benefit, " he said. " I think the frustration
they have for the grizzly bear issue is the goalpost keeps
moving. The state keeps trying to prove and showcase
every little step and check boxes for delisting. The politics seems to be getting in the way of sound science. "
State wildlife managers continue to go above and
beyond federal requirements for bear management,

Wyoming Wildlife magazine

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