Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Establishment of a Nonessential Experimental Population of Grizzly Bears in the Bitterroot Area of Idaho and Montana

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to restore the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), a threatened species, into east- central Idaho and a portion of western Montana. We are designating grizzly bears to be reintroduced into the area described in this rule as a nonessential experimental population pursuant to section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Grizzly bear populations have been extirpated from most of the lower 48 United States. They presently occur in populations in the Selkirk and Cabinet- Yaak ecosystems in north Idaho, northeastern Washington, and northwestern Montana; the North Cascades ecosystem in northwestern Washington; the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem in Montana; and the Yellowstone ecosystem in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The purpose of this reintroduction is to reestablish a viable grizzly bear population in the Bitterroot ecosystem in east-central Idaho and adjacent areas of Montana, one of six grizzly recovery areas identified in the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan. We evaluated potential effects of this final rule in the "Final Environmental Impact Statement on Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Bitterroot Ecosystem." This grizzly bear reintroduction does not conflict with existing or anticipated Federal agency actions or traditional public uses of wilderness areas or surrounding lands.