The agency notes that grizzlies are the missing wildlife element in this largest of wilderness areas in the lower 48 states, an area thousands of square miles in size, stretching across Idaho and into Montana. Not everyone agrees, however. Critics argue that wolves are much different from grizzlies, and that Idahoans are not ready to rub shoulders with the big beasts. The danger to humans is too high, according to some of these critics. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho in particular is much opposed to having grizzlies in Idaho.
Grizzlies are large, strong and fast, ruling over the food chain by and large.
In fact, humans are their only serious threat. But their habitat and numbers have dwindled as more and more people have moved into the West, and grizzlies are now designated as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Although there are an estimated 50,000 grizzlies in Alaska and Canada, there are only about 1,200 in the lower 48 states, scattered across northern Montana, the Yellowstone ecosystem, the Canadian-Idaho border and the northern Cascades. Furthermore, grizzly populations over the last decade have steadily increased in the Yellowstone area and northern Montana. Every bear released would be monitored by a radio collar, and the grizzlies would later be allowed to range over another 20,000 square miles that encompasses communities as far west as Washington and east into Montana.