“A supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is needed for a logging project on the Kootenai National Forest, after a federal court judge ruled Thursday that potential impacts to grizzlies from ineffective road closures wasn’t fully explored.”
“We showed the court that people were driving not only on supposedly closed roads, but also on illegal roads in grizzly bear habitat and the court ruled in our favor,” Garrity said in a news release. “Roads are the major source of grizzly bear mortality. In its 1993 Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cautioned that ‘roads probably pose the most imminent threat to grizzly habitat today.’ That’s why the Forest Service has restrictions on the total number of roads in grizzly bear habitat since most grizzly bears are illegally killed within 500 yards of a road.”
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Bears are especially active during the fall months as they seek protein- and calorie-rich foods in preparation for hibernation. This is also when many archery hunters are in the field. Grizzly bear attacks on humans are most common in surprise close encounters.