Does the habitat in the Bitterroot Ecosystem provide adequate food resources for grizzly recovery?
Habitat quality has been studied extensively and research has concluded that area contains suitable habitat to support a grizzly bear population. At least seven different studies have been conducted within the Bitterroot Ecosystem that have direct applicability to the potential for grizzly bear recovery. Habitat quality varies throughout the Experimental Population Area, and likewise throughout the Recovery Area. However, studies indicate that a great variety of preferred grizzly bear foods are present in the ecosystem. A wide variety of all season foods are present including good quantities of several key berry species, forbs and grasses, as well as historically high levels of ungulates to provide carrion during the fall and spring months. Food habits of black bears are quite similar to those of grizzly bears. Healthy populations of black bears live within the Bitterroot Ecosystem, and annual hunter harvest totals about 1,000. A recovered population of 280 grizzly bears should be able
