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For Immediate Release
Defenders Secures Grizzly Habitat Near Grand Teton National Park
MISSOULA, MT -- Defenders of Wildlife announced today the conclusion of successful negotiations to retire a 16,370-acre sheep grazing allotment on national forest land. Retirement of the Badger/Jackpine allotment northeast of Driggs, Idaho will secure vital grizzly bear habitat in the Yellowstone Ecosystem and solve chronic problems of sheep depredation by bears. Defenders worked with the allotment permittees and representatives from the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and Wyoming Game and Fish Department for two years to arrange this agreement. With assistance from the Wyoming Chapter of the Wildlife Society’s Memorial Bear Fund, Defenders negotiated the allotment waiver.
In accordance with the Targhee Forest Plan, the Badger/Jackpine allotment was closed by Forest Supervisor Jerry Reese. Individual allotments within the Targhee have been identified for closure in important grizzly bear and bighorn sheep habitat. The Mill Creek/Tablerock allotment was also closed by the USFS as a result of similar negotiations with the Wyoming Wildlife Society Memorial Bear Fund and Wyoming Chapter and Minnesota/Wisconsin Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep.
"This is a win-win solution for everyone involved - the sheep growers, the Forest and particularly for the grizzly bears." said Minette Johnson, Northern Rockies Field Representative for Defenders of Wildlife. "The retirement of the lease will provide important habitat where grizzly bears can roam freely without coming into conflict with domestic sheep. It is also a permanent solution to the chronic problem of livestock losses for the permittees, instead of a quick fix, and all those involved should be commended for their hard work and willingness to negotiate."
Domestic sheep depredation by grizzly bears has been a problem on the Badger/Jackpine allotment for years. From 1996 through 1998, grizzly bears killed 34 sheep resulting in $4,080 in payments by Wyoming Game and Fish Department for the losses. Five bears were relocated from the allotment, including two reproductive-age females. Both females returned and killed more sheep. Bear biologists and livestock permittees made many attempts to reduce depredation problems, including the use of livestock guard dogs, fencing, alarm systems, and aversive conditioning, without success.
Defenders of Wildlife initiated this agreement using a new program, The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Proactive Carnivore Conservation Fund. This program provides money for collaborative on-the-ground efforts to reduce potential conflict between large predators and livestock. This may involve electric fencing, livestock guarding dogs, scare devices, alternative grazing lands, or even retirement of grazing allotments from willing permittees like this one.
"This action is part of a broad effort by Defenders to step forward and do what it takes in partnership with local communities and stakeholders to restore imperilled and absent carnivores to ecosystems where they belong," said Bob Ferris, Vice President for Species Conservation at Defenders of Wildlife.
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