Louisa Willcox speaks with Tim Bozorth, retired land manager and member of Yellowstone’s Interagency Grizzly Bear Subcommittee, who candidly shares his opposition to grizzly bear delisting. During his 45 years in public service, Tim stood up for the public and our natural resources, and helped make the world a safer place for grizzly bears in the Gravelly and Centennial Mountains. Here he outlines his vision for what still needs to be done next to achieve long term recovery for the grizzly bear.
INTERVIEW EXCERPTS
"I think a lot of the grizzly bear population gains in the Yellowstone Ecosystem were made at a time when the Northern elk herd was high, when whitebark pine nuts were available and when cutthroat trout were abundant in Yellowstone Lake. And those three things just aren’t there anymore. And I think that the core population in the Park and protected areas like the Parks -- Grand Teton and Yellowstone -- those bears have a harder time making a living than they did. And I think the population in the core area’s declining. And those bears are moving out because the high protein and fat food sources, aren’t there anymore."
"…I think the risks are too high to move forward with delisting. I don’t think we have, while the population theoretically could be determined to be stable, I think it’s actually declining somewhat, especially in the core area and the risks are too great."
"I think hunters should be required to carry bear spray in hunting units that are occupied by grizzly bears. That’s not a big ask. Thousands of people acquire bear spray as they go into the Parks -- both Grand Teton and Yellowstone -- for hiking."
"And to me it was a pretty big insult to have spent my entire -- pretty much adult life working to protect public lands, managing public lands for the benefit of all the people in the United States and elsewhere -- to have a small group of radical armed people take over a wildlife refuge [Malheur] and their aim being to turn over the country’s public lands to ranchers, loggers and miners who have pretty much dominated the discussion on use of public lands over the decades previous -- is kind of just insulting to me. The public owns those lands…"
MORE READING
Walden and Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau
A Sand Country Almanac, Aldo Leopold
Our Natural History: The Lessons of Lewis and Clark, Danial B. Botkin
Crossing The Next Meridian Land: Water and the Future of the West, Charles F. Wilkinson
The Wisdom of the Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, James Surowiecki
