STEVENSVILLE — In the Bitterroot Valley, along with the growing population of people, there are bears. There is a resident black bear population and, sometimes, there are grizzlies.
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“We certainly have grizzlies that live and move through the Bitterroot, so seeing them is definitely a possibility,” said Vivaca Crowser, an education program manager with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP). “It is a spot where we have consistent reports. We're able to verify some of those, but it's not a place with a large established population.”
A resident east of Stevensville captured trail camera photos that might show a grizzly earlier this summer. FWP is looking into that report. They get several each year.
The Bitterroot has an established population of resident black bears. Sometimes that can lead to conflicts with the valley’s other residents.
“We've seen more conflicts this year in the Bitterroot than maybe we've ever seen before,” Crowser said. “This year has been a bit of a worse year for bears for finding natural foods, berry shortage in a lot of areas, and so that means they're looking for anything that they can eat. So, that always upticks conflicts. It doesn't matter where you're at.”
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The valley is so sprawling. Sometimes bears, mainly black bears, are drawn closer in by trash, gardens, chickens, compost piles and more.
“Just the way the Bitterroot is laid out, gosh, you know, there's kind of development scattered throughout, so you just have a hodgepodge of activity,” Crowser said. “Along with that often comes small livestock in your backyard or places for fruit trees and all those things are great, but they're also things that tend to attract wildlife like bears.”
The agency is trying to get ahead of conflict management. There are ways to help avoid conflicts, like electric fences and securing trash.
“We have Fish, Wildlife & Parks staff that is particularly working in the Bitterroot this year. There's also community groups, and everybody's out to try to help,” Crowser said. “If there are conflicts that we're not aware of yet where you need some help with electric fencing or some advice on other attractants, please reach out.”
While staying bear aware in the valley, you can also keep an eye out for grizzlies.
“With grizzly bears, we could expect that population just to continue to expand and increase as we have more bears established in ecosystems kind of to the north and then to the Southeast,” Crowser said. “They're going to move through; they're going to establish, and so any work that we do to learn how to live with black bears just helps us with grizzly bears as they continue to be in more places.”
