Predicted Grizzly Bear Habitat in the Bitterroot Ecosystem

Abstract

Many conservation actions must be implemented with limited data or scientific models. This is especially true when planning recovery efforts for extirpated populations, such as grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) within the Bitterroot Ecosystem (BE) of Idaho and Montana, where strategies for reestablishing a resident population are currently being evaluated. Here, we applied individual integrated step‐selection models developed for the nearby population in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to predict movement and habitat selection in the BE. We approached simulation two ways, to predict how grizzly bears might naturally recolonize the BE, and how reintroduced bears or an established population would use the BE. Recolonizing bears used the region northeast of the BE and in the northern two thirds of the BE most heavily. Reintroduced bears used the northern two thirds of the BE along with the areas west of this most heavily. In both cases, public and private lands were important to simulated bears. These results can inform conservation decision and success of grizzly bear recovery efforts.