Bears come roaring back

When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on their legendary journey across the newly acquired lands of the Louisiana Purchase, they didn’t know what discoveries lay ahead. One was the grizzly bear, bigger and more fearsome than any bears they had seen before. In his journal, Clark told of an encounter with a “terrible looking animal, which we found very hard to kill.” He added, “I must confess that I do not like the gentlemen and had rather fight two Indians than one bear.”

By 1975, with only about 800 left in the continental United States, they were classified as endangered by the federal government. They had been killed off in many places where once they were numerous, including the Dakotas, California and Arizona. The threat of extinction loomed.

Preservation efforts made all the difference. Since then, grizzlies have rebounded, increasing their number to about 1,800.

But the comeback, welcome as it is, carries risks to both bear and human. Most people want grizzlies in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. But no one wants a 600-pound apex predator on the patio. As the animals multiply, they show up more often in populated places, sometimes with regrettable results.

The surprise is that even when they do migrate to places abundant in people, grizzlies are far less dangerous than might be assumed. Attacks on humans are rare. They go nocturnal, to avoid people.

Problem bears sometimes have to be killed or trapped for removal. But as grizzlies grow more numerous, people can also take measures to avoid attracting them.

President-elect Donald Trump’s sons are both avid big-game hunters. His choice to run the Interior Department, Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., has voted to remove wolves, lynx and sage grouse from the endangered species list. So the grizzly may face new threats in the next four years.

We hope Trump and Zinke appreciate that many Americans welcome the comebacks that a few species—wolves, mountain lions, eagles and these ursine marvels—have made, and don’t want that progress squandered. This is a key environmental issue on which the new administration will prove itself a good steward of nature or a handmaiden of big agriculture and other industries that often are at odds with conservation.