A note from Justine Vallieres, Montana FWP Region 1 Bear Manager . . .
Hey folks, I just wanted to give an update as I’ve had a couple people reach out with questions about seeing traps up the North Fork recently.
On Sunday August 2, I released two 2 year-old grizzly bear sisters at the end of Whale Creek. I caught them preemptively in Columbia Falls, as I wanted to get them out of town to avoid them potentially running into trouble. I had originally caught them as cubs of the year two years ago with mom getting into unsecured chickens and because there was so much snow at that time release sites were limited so I released them in Moose City. They denned in Canada and came out last spring. They made their way back to Columbia Falls last summer and mom dropped her collar in the Apgar Range. I never had any conflicts with any of them last summer or fall.
Since their release on the 2nd they have stayed very centralized in that Whitefish range area not near homes. Their last location was yesterday a couple miles north of Ninko cabin. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or concerns.
Also, please know that I am very selective when it comes to relocation and do put a lot of thought into what bears go where, but land is far more limited than people realize. I have said no to putting certain bears up the North Fork from other regions or the Tribe. I try to set as few traps as possible as relocation is not the long-term solution, but relocation is still a tool we use and so I work with what limited areas I have. I am happy to explain in further detail what we are up against these days when it comes to relocation, and if people are interested, can do a talk on this in the future. Thanks for your continued support!