MISSOULA — Montana ranchers and rural communities will now have a better chance to proactively reduce conflicts with grizzly bears, thanks to substantial federal funding.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Interior awarded Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks almost $5 million over the next three years from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation America The Beautiful Challenge.
The money is intended to help landowners adopt non-lethal conflict prevention tools, including carcass removal programs, electric fencing, range riders and bear-resistant garbage infrastructure and services.
The grant was awarded in part due to the cooperation of landowner-led groups such as the Blackfoot Challenge, nonprofits including the Heart of the Rockies Initiative and National Parks Conservation Association, and federal and state agencies who are working to enable the use of conflict prevention tools.
The Heart of the Rockies Initiative will work with FWP to help producers access these new resources.
“These resources help meet a growing demand from producers and landowners who are on the frontlines sharing landscapes with expanding populations of grizzly bears,” said Nathan Owens, Policy Director for Heart of the Rockies Initiative,in a release. “Preventing wildlife conflicts before they happen can help maintain the long-term viability of Montana’s agricultural producers and make it easier for wildlife to move from one place to another.”
Last year, the Heart of the Rockies Initiative was awarded more than $16 million from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for nonlethal predator management in Montana, Oregon and Colorado. Out of that total, Montana stands to gain $6 million to $7 million.
All told, the two grants will provide around $12 million over the next five years to reduce predator conflicts while keeping wildlife alive.
The Blackfoot Challenge has been the role model for putting nonlethal conflict avoidance methods on the ground. Reported grizzly bear conflicts have dropped by 90% since carcass pickup and range riding programs were started, even as bear populations in the area grew by 3% annually.
But the Blackfoot Challenge has been going since 1993, so it has the organization and ability to raise funds needed for such programs. That isn’t the case for most areas. So the biggest challenge has been finding the money to support continual efforts like carcass pickup programs. Even the Blackfoot Challenge needed a U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant to get its carcass pickup program off the ground.
In late 2020, the Heart of the Rockies Initiative got a grant to investigate how much money is needed to get various conflict reduction programs going in regions throughout the West. In 2021, the the Landowner-Led Conflict Reduction Partnership - a coalition of nine landowner-led organizations and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes - formed to pool resources but money was tight.
Now, these grants can cover some of the cost while ranchers wait to see if similar funds might be included in the next version of the Farm Bill.
“Ranchers across the West are faced with increasingly complex challenges,” said Jim Stone, owner-operator of Rolling Stone Ranch and board chairman of the Blackfoot Challenge, in a release. “Our ability to ‘neighbor up’ and coordinate with a host of partners including USDA, DOI and FWP is helping landowners put new tools on the ground to make agriculture more resilient. I am very grateful for this partnership-based approach and the investments in our working lands that these conversations can yield.”
The first infusion of funding is expected this fall for members of the Landowner-Led Conflict Reduction Partnership, who are already developing conflict prevention programs. Additional funding opportunities will be made available for tribal wildlife agencies, communities, and individual producers for cost-sharing to pay for new electric fencing, carcass removal, range riding, and rural sanitation programs.
In addition to the CSKT, the Landowner-Led Conflict Reduction Partnership includes Blackfeet Nation Stockgrowers Association, Centennial Valley Association, Big Hole Watershed Committee, Granite Conservation District, Ruby Valley Conservation District, Swan Valley Connections, Watershed Restoration Council, Madison Valley Ranchlands Group and the Rocky Mountain Front Collaborative.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to indicate where the grant money originated.
