Another grizzly bear has been moved to the Cabinet Mountains in an ongoing program to augment the imperiled Cabinet-Yaak grizzly population.

The 2-to 3-year-old female bear was trapped by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks personnel in the Puzzle Creek drainage south of Marias Pass. It was moved and released near Spar Lake in the West Cabinet Mountains south of Troy on July 27.

Since 2005, eight bears - all but one of them females - have been moved from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to the Cabinets. The intent is to boost reproduction in a population that is estimated to have fewer than 50 bears, said Wayne Kasworm, a Libby-based biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Over the last six years, two of the augmentation bears have been killed and two have left the Cabinets, returning to where they were captured in the Whitefish Range.

Last year, a female bear that was moved stayed only for a couple of days before she started her way back, reaching the Whitefish Range within five days.

So far, there is no firm evidence that any of the bears that have been transplanted have reproduced. That's not surprising, Kasworm said, because most have been young females that need to reach the reproductive age of about 6.

The bear moved in 2005, however, may have cubs by now, he said, because there have been sightings of a bear with cubs in the home that she established six years ago.

Results of a first phase of the augmentation program, carried out in the mid-1990s, have been successful.

Four female bears were moved to the Cabinets from Canada in 1994 and 1995, and since then genetic testing has found that those bears have played a major role in the Cabinet-Yaak population.

"What we're seeing is second and third generations out of the bears that were placed in there in '94 and '95," Kasworm said, adding that more than 75 percent of genetic samples collected from the population since then can be traced to those bears.

"That suggests to me that most of the bears we are monitoring today are products of that augmentation," he said. That is a major reason why the augmentation program continues.

"I would even go so far as to say that we have enough now that we are judging the augmentation program successful just from the bears we put in there in '94 and '95," he added.

This year, it is possible that a male bear will be transplanted to the Cabinets if a proper candidate can be found.

The program only uses young, backcountry bears that have no history of conflicts or contacts with humans, Kasworm said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.