LIBBY — The three-year study has found the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem has at least 42 grizzly bears — almost half of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined as full recovery.

The study relied on DNA analysis of bear hair. 

The agency has established 100 bears as its benchmark for full recovery.

Wayne Kasworm, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear biologist, said he will continue concentrating on reducing bear mortality, improving the augmentation program and the examining the linkage of the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem grizzlies to others in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

“The recovery seems to be going well. Whether that number is 45, 49 or even 55 on the high end. However you split that number, we’re only halfway there,” Kasworm said.

On Monday, Kate Kendall with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center told Lincoln County commissioners and other officials about the preliminary results of the grizzly bear study.

Kendall explained the intricacies of the report that relied on hair snaring, genetic analysis and mark-recapture modeling of collared bears. 

The study area included 2.4 million acres of the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, 1.7 million acres of which are in the Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone. 

The research determined that at least 42 and as many as 55 bears share part of the year in the ecosystem.

By comparison, a 2004 field study covering 7.8 million acres in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem — Glacier National Park, Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and surrounding areas — ended up producing a “snapshot” population estimate of 752 grizzly bears. That study also was led by Kendall.

The Cabinet-Yaak study setup began in 2011 with bear rub identification zones that included a crew of five, eventually establishing 1,017 bear rubs over a distance of 3,542 miles. 

During the 2012 field season, the crew was expanded to include 72 crew members working from eight base camps establishing hair corrals that included 100-foot barbed-wire areas baited with a scented lure. 

A total of 395 cells were established in 5-by-5 kilometer grids. Each corral was monitored for five 14-day sessions. The concoctions of bear lure were just too attractive for grizzlies to avoid, consisting of 75 55-gallon drums with a mixture of 1,300 gallons of fish, 2,400 gallons of blood of which four gallons were poured as attractant in each cell. 

The fish blood was aged one year to make it especially enticing for grizzlies. There also were secondary scents of anise, skunk and cherry.

In all, there were 18,761 hair samples recognized, of which about 60 percent were sent for analysis, Kendall said. 

Samples also were gathered from trees, power poles and sign posts, but at these sites there were no attractants. In all, 1,386 rub sites were analyzed during eight 14-day intervals.

There were 28 grizzlies, including 17 males, detected at 1,975 hair trap visits from 10,405 hair samples. 

The bear rub samplings detected 28 grizzlies, 15 of which were males.

Collectively, from the corrals and rubs, scientists detected 38 individual grizzlies, of which 21 were males. 

Kendall said in addition to the 38 baseline grizzlies, there were four bears that were detected or known from other methods, such as two full-time collared bears. 

There were two bears detected in first-pass rub collections, but it is unknown whether those samples were from 2011 or 2012. Kendall said there also was another collared bear transmitting until mid-May. Biologists are unsure whether the collared bear was alive, but it was counted for the study. 

Of those 45 bears, there is nearly an equal mix of males (23) and females (22).

Kendall also provide some insight into the saturation numbers of grizzlies in the ecosystem. Of the 395 cells, grizzlies were detected in 26 percent. Kendall said black bears were recognized in 98 percent of the cells.

While the numbers still are not definitive, Commissioner Tony Berget said the study provides a starting point.

“This brings us to the table,” Berget said. “For years, the grizzly bear has been the hammer, something to prevent logging, mining, huckleberry picking or even hunting. It’s all been impacted by the grizzly. This is a starting point. They say they want 100 grizzly bears in the Cabinets. How do we know it’s even capable of supporting that many bears? This is something we can start with.”

Eric Klepfer of Klepfer Mining has been working to permit the Montanore Mine.

About three years ago, Montanore conducted a grizzly bear scat study for $250,000 that indicated there were about 40 bears in the ecosystem.

“We’ve been something at arm’s length with this,” Klepfer said. “But the study we did showed more than 40 bears in that system, which I guess is a good validation of what we’ve done.”

Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Paul Bradford, who also attended Kendall’s presentation, said the research reflects several years of effort.

“It’s a good foundation,” Bradford said. “We’ve been building on this for several years. It’s something to build on.”

Kendall will present her findings this week in Missoula to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. 

In 1975 grizzly bears were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

The Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem in Northwest Montana and northeast Idaho is one of six recovery zones defined in the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan. 

Gerstenecker is the editor of the Western News in Libby.