Grizzly bear country?/ Group envisions animal's return to Colorado

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Nov 24, 2002 | by BARRY NOREEN

Just maybe, in a den 200 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, a grizzly bear sleeps.

It also could be true that grizzlies are extinct in the state.

Whatever the reality, members of the Colorado Grizzly Project have begun the improbable task of restoring the big bear's numbers across a broad swath of wild land in the southwestern part of the state.

"We dream big and we have to if we're going to protect life on this planet," said Jorge Andromidas, executive director of the Boulder-based organization that envisions a population of 2,000 Colorado grizzly bears.

Aside from important wildlife biology questions that remain unanswered, the grizzly's comeback faces formidable political barriers.

Republican and Democratic administrations in Denver have done nothing to change a long-standing resolution by the Colorado Wildlife Commission, which opposes reintroducing grizzly bears and wolves.

Farmers and ranchers on the Western Slope would line up to oppose the grizzly, the most awesome killing machine to walk the Lower 48 states.

"That's a crazy idea, to have 2,000 grizzlies roaming around southwest Colorado and northwest is just crazy," said Ray Christensen, vice president of the Colorado Farm Bureau. Grizzlies would "roam wherever they please. The land base just wouldn't be there," Chistensen said.

Grizzly habitat included most of the West's plains and mountains when Lewis and Clark explored the Louisiana Purchase. The remaining grizzly enclaves are in remote mountainous country in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Colorado?

No one knows if grizzlies remain in the state.

The last known Colorado grizzly was killed in 1979 near Blue Lake in what is now the South San Juan Wilderness.

Since then, there have been sightings of bears believed to be grizzlies, and some grizzly hair has been found.

The Grizzly Project has mapped an area of more than 9,100 square miles where advocates say the bears would thrive.

Roughly, the area is bordered on the north by Montrose and Gunnison; on the west by State Highway 145; and on the east by Saguache, South Fork and Antonito. The south side of the area borders Durango and Pagosa Springs, but it also drops into northern New Mexico.

"We feel reasonably confident in proposing this area because there is declining economic use. A lot of the grazing allotments are going unused," Andromidas said.

Still, numerous private land holdings are in the area, especially in the northern and southern portions, that account for 22 percent of the overall land area.

Although logging in the area has declined in recent years, it contains some of the best timber stands left in the state, and timber interests hope to be allowed to cut there.

The grizzly recovery zone also includes three wilderness areas where there are no roads, fences or man-made structures.

Even if there was no opposition to the grizzly and it can be proven a remnant population of the bears survives somewhere in the San Juans, Andromidas admits serious biological questions need to be answered.

Although it's known some places within the region could support bears, the grizzlies would have to be able to get from one region to the next to avoid inbreeding.

Whether the "land bridges" are workable hasn't been studied, Andromidas said.

Using a "best-case scenario," Andromidas said the 9,100-square- mile area could support 2,000 grizzlies, which is far more than live in Yellowstone National Park. He envisions grizzlies being released in 2006 in the remote South San Juan Wilderness, where the last known grizzly was killed.