Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative
Jackson, WY
Re-connecting Grizzly Populations Across the High Divide
Project location: Madison & Blackfoot Valleys, MT
$30,000 2009-2010

CF funding supports NRCC’s place-based, grizzly conservation work in the High Divide region of western Montana. The work pursues two inter-related objectives: 1) to maintain and build support for grizzly conservation with local communities; and 2) implementation of on-the-ground conflict prevention projects to reduce grizzly bear-human conflicts and resultant bear mortality.

In both the High Divide and Blackfoot Valley our place-based efforts have focused on working constructively with local, landowner-driven groups, including the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group (MVRG) and the Blackfoot Challenge (BC), to move grizzly bear conservation forward. Collaborating with outfitters, agency personnel, conservation groups, and other stakeholders offers excellent opportunities to build inclusive forums so that there is a common understanding of “the problem” to be addressed, and ultimately to harness the power of partnerships to pool skills and resources to realize on-the-ground results for grizzly bears. Our strategy has five important outcomes that result in:

• a direct reduction in human-bear conflicts and human-caused mortality for bears

• improved outlooks for functional connectivity for grizzly bear populations

• trust created with individuals and groups who implement co-existence practices

• a testing-ground for promising new technologies, practices, and social processes

• a model to serve as proven examples and to diffuse innovations and improve policy

These efforts are a critical step in reconnecting these grizzly populations and facilitating beneficial genetic and demographic interchange. Also, simply having more and safer habitat will give grizzlies flexibility in coping with long-term fluctuations in food resources and climate-induced changes to habitat. This project is helping to ensure the long-term survival of grizzlies in the Rocky Mountains.