Largest carnivore of the Clearwater

(Ursus arctos horribilis)

Description: Equipped with massive shoulders and muscular necks, females weigh between 300 – 450lbs., with males averaging 400 – 800lbs. Largest males can weigh over 1,000lbs. Shoulder height is approximately 36 inches; body length is 72 – 96 inches. Run up to 35mph and have long, non-retractable claws for digging. Brown – yellow – cinnamon fur with distinguishable back or shoulder hump (black bears do not have hump).

Diet: Largely omnivores, 70 – 80% of diet is vegetation, including roots, stems, leaves, flowers, nuts and berries. Adept at digging up insects, squirrel caches, marmot dens and mice. Also prey on larger mammals, particularly young elk, deer and moose. White-bark pine historically invaluable source of nutrition; it is severely declining however due to climate change. Other traditional food losses are also in decline.

Habitat: Once prominent along short-grass prairie of West; now largely limited to ridges, mountains, and forested landscapes of Northern Rockies. Require large tracts of protected landscapes with minimal road density and human disturbance. Denning usually begins October/November and hibernates throughout winter. During hibernation, grizzlies do not eat or drink, and very rarely urinate or defecate.

Range: Five designated recovery zones: Greater-Yellowstone, Northern Continental Divide, Cabinet-Yaak, Selkirks, and Bitterroots; latter includes Clearwater Basin and upper portions of St. Joe Drainage. These recovery zones are geographically isolated—a major hurdle for true recovery. Long-term survival of grizzly bears in the United States requires connected habitat, for example between Yellowstone and the Bitterroot Ecosystem through the Centennial range. These corridors need to be included in designated recovery areas.

Reproduction: Produce cubs every other year or every three years; do not breed until 5-7 years of age. Typically mate June/July, but embryos do not implant until October/November if sow has adequate fat stores. Sows give birth 1 to 4 cubs in January. Cubs emerge from den in April/May with mother.

Threats: Road building, logging, habitat loss/fragmentation, poaching, and loss of traditional foods. Lack of connectivity (bears moving/breeding with bears in other recovery zones) is major threat too.

Legal Status: Remain listed as threatened under Endangered Species Act despite wrongful attempts of federal government to remove from Endangered Species List.

Local Sightings: In 2007, a 500 – 600lb. male grizzly bear shot/killed in Kelly Creek drainage on Clearwater National Forest by client of local outfitter. DNA results indicate bear dispersed from Selkirk Mountains in North Idaho, the first confirmed grizzly bear in North Central Idaho in approximately sixty years.

In 2018, male grizzly appeared in Bitterroot Valley of Montana but was relocated north of I-90.

In 2019, at least two grizzly bears were confirmed in central Idaho, including near White Bird, Idaho, on the Nez Perce National Forest.

In April of 2020, grizzly tracks were confirmed just south of Grangeville, the first evidence of year-round grizzly presence in the Clearwater in decades.

In 2022, two grizzlies frequented the Bitterroot valley between Lolo and Florence, just east of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. The Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks captured the bears and released them in the Sapphire Mountains. The bears had "not yet been in conflict with people".

In 2024, a very young male grizzly was shot at a black bear bait station near St. Maries, Idaho in the St. Joe watershed. According to news reports, the hunter had sent in video footage to the Idaho Fish and Game to help identify the bear, since he was not sure if it was a cinnamon-colored black bear or a young grizzly. The IDFG misidentified the bear, and said via email "we don’t need griz in the Joe" (that email was obtained by the good people at Wilderness Watch). The hunter then shot the bear, which was actually a grizzly bear. He then turned himself in for killing the federally-protected species. This is further evidence that state-management of grizzly bears would be a serious loss to protection of the species.