Grizzly bears move east from Rocky Mountain Front, prompt community meetings

Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks plan to hold three meetings in April in communities east of the Rocky Mountain Front to discuss ways to coexist with grizzly bears. The bears have been steadily moving east in the last five years in a gradual expansion onto plains traditionally used as grizzly bear summer habitat, said Game Warden Bryan Golie. Earlier this month, a rancher reported a grizzly near the Maria River 15 miles east of Interstate 15 at the head of Tiber Reservoir. "We are having bears moving periodically out of the (grizzly) bear recovery area, both black and grizzly bears," said Bruce Auchly, a Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman. "That's why we lined up meetings in three communities we don't usually go to."...more