The canopy is open. A lot of the fires in the Bitterroot Valley were in places where we don't want bears anyway. The long-term goal would be a population of 280 bears distributed over 5,785 square miles of wilderness and national forest lands. Servheen said the 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park gave scientists a chance to monitor the effects of wildfire on grizzly bears. And the answer, over and over, was yes.
Grizzly bears use burned areas very well.
They aren't displaced much. The overall effect of the fires is minimal. Tom France, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation in Missoula and a reintroduction supporter, said the delay was reasonable, but now it's time to get to the next phase. If the government rules in favor of reintroduction, the first release of grizzlies in the wilderness wouldn't come until at least 2002, Servheen said.