Grizzlies Are Coming Back!

Forbes Magazine lets us know that Grizzlies are coming back, even as they remind us (however gently) that John McCain is an idiot:

WASHINGTON - The majestic grizzly bear, once king of the Western wilderness but threatened with extinction for a third of a century, has roared back in Montana. The finding, from a $4.8 million, five-year study of grizzly bear DNA described by Republican presidential candidate John McCain as pork barrel spending, could help ease restrictions on oil and gas drilling, logging and other development.

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey announced Tuesday that there are approximately 765 bears in northwestern Montana. That's the largest population of grizzly bears documented there in more than 30 years, and a sign that the species could be at long last recovering.

The first-ever scientific census shattered earlier estimates that said there were at least 250-350 bears roaming an eight-million-acre area stretching from north of Missoula to the Canadian border. More recent data placed the minimum population at around 563 bears.

Back in Jan. of 2001, I ghosted a piece that appeared in Endangered Species Update (published by the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources) in which I noted that the roadless areas of Idaho remained perfect areas for Grizzly and that protecting areas like the Clearwater and Nolo National Forests were vital to ensuring that the Grizzly expand its territory and numbers in the United States.

Now I wonder if it is too crazy to dream that one day there might be Grizzlies in California ... and not just on the state flag.

The last confirmed California Grizzy was dead shot in Fresno County back in 1922.
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