The handling, collaring and release of the 2016 augmentation grizzly bear for the Cabinet Mountain grizzly bear population augmentation program yesterday was successful. The bear, ID# 926, is a young male, estimated to be 3.5 year old. He was captured on the South Fork of the Flathead River and was released above Spar Lake on the Kootenai National Forest on 7/25/16. This bear has no known history of conflict with people and was captured specifically to be moved to the Cabinet Mountains as part of the on-going grizzly bear population augmentation program run by the USFWS. Our thanks to all those involved with his capture, handling and release.
This program is an on-going effort to boost and recover the grizzly bear population in the Cabinet Mountains and is a cooperative effort between MFWP and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Under the program, FWP captures bears in backcountry areas of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and USFWS monitors the animals after their release in the Cabinet Mountains. All grizzly bears relocated to the Cabinets are monitored with a radio collar until their collars drop off. The collars utilize the global positioning system (GPS) to gather locations every few hours in order to follow the bear’s movements.
Photos are courtesy of Debbie Lepo, Forest Service LEO with the Kootenai National Forest.
For more information, contact Kim Annis, MFWP Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Specialist, at 291-1320.
