Pickup truck kills 700-pound griz near Lincoln
By JOHN CRAMER of the Missoulian
A 700-pound grizzly bear was hit and killed by a pickup truck Wednesday near Lincoln.
The fatality was another example of the threatened species expanding its range and population in western Montana, where the human population and highway traffic also are increasing.
The number of bears reported killed in road accidents so far this year - at least six grizzlies and 30 black bears - is unusually high for western Montana.
“More bears and more people and cars - those two things are colliding,” said Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear recovery coordinator.
“These bears are pushing further and further out (of the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem) and reoccupying former territories,” Servheen said. “It's really tragic this one was killed in such a worthless way.”
Bears are most active in the fall as they fatten up for hibernation, but the more populous black bears - rather than grizzlies - are usually killed by vehicles this time of year, said Jamie Jonkel, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear specialist.
Large grizzlies generally live in the eastern and northern parts of the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem, which is a recovery zone for the species between Highway 200 and Canada.
Fewer big grizzlies have been reported on the south end of the ecosystem, although they commonly inhabit the Blackfoot Valley where the bear was hit this week.
Habitat improvements and other protection efforts mean people will encounter grizzlies more often in areas where they haven't been common in years, said Mack Long, regional supervisor for Montana FWP.
A large grizzly was killed by a hunter last month in the northern Bitterroot Mountains, where the last confirmed sighting of the species came in 1946.
The bear killed Wednesday was hit about 3:45 a.m. on Highway 200 near the Lewis and Clark and Powell county lines.
It was a healthy 12-year-old male with 6 inches of fat and a hide that was 8 feet by 8 feet.
The bear had a numbered tattoo on its lip, evidence that it had been trapped in 1996 on the Rocky Mountain Front as part of a research study.
The tattoo, a radio collar the bear once wore and DNA samples helped biologists to track its movement.
The bear's last radio collar location was recorded in 1998 along the Rocky Mountain Front.
In 2004, a sample of the bear's hair was picked up on snags at bait stations and rub trees in the Lincoln area. The DNA evidence suggests the bear lived in the Lincoln area for at least three to four years.
FWP biologists said the bear may have been searching for uncontained garbage and grain and might have been responsible for several recent cabin, trailer and shed break-ins.
DNA samples taken from the break-in sites are being processed and the results will determine if it was the same bear.
Dale Manning of Custom Bird Works and the Big Game Connection taxidermy in Missoula recovered the hide for FWP, which will save it for educational purposes.
The driver wasn't injured in the accident. The pickup truck sustained heavy damage.
The bear died on impact.
State, federal and tribal wildlife, land management and transportation officials are studying ways to reduce bear fatalities on highways in western Montana.
One method is to install large box culverts and fencing along roads that encourage bears to pass under the highway rather than across it.
Several such culverts are being installed on U.S. Highway 93 north of Missoula, including one at Post Creek, where at least six grizzlies have been struck and killed in recent years.
Three grizzly bears have been killed by vehicles on Highway 200 between Lincoln and Bonner in the past four years.
