Have grizzly bears returned to Utah?

SALT LAKE CITY — Grizzly bears may have returned to their old stomping grounds in the Beehive State.

"If we got a confirmed sighting — you know, someone took a picture or (a grizzly) showed up on a trail cam in northern Utah — I don't think I'd be surprised at this point," said Darren Debloois, game mammals coordinator with the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources.

It's come pretty close, as a Wyoming sheriff's deputy spotted a grizzly bear near Lake Viva Naughton on April 25, 2024, and the bear was not relocated, according to Dan Thompson, supervisor of the large carnivore section for Wyoming Game and Fish. That's just shy of 20 miles east of Utah's eastern border, and approximately 30 miles east of the appropriately named Bear Lake and it confirms what bear specialists have known for a long time.

Grizzlies are recolonizing territory they haven't inhabited for more than a century.

"This is occurring throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, in all directions," said Thompson.

In the past year, the Viva Naughton bear and others that may have likewise migrated south have had ample opportunity to cross the border into Utah. Raising the question: Have grizzlies already returned to Utah? If grizzlies haven't yet returned to the state, it may only be a matter of time.

Growing concerns

Utah's last known grizzly was shot and killed in 1923. Since then, Utahns haven't worried much about grizzly bears, which raises concerns while highlighting a unique, though perishable, opportunity for Utahns.

"We've had a growing black bear population over the last 10 or 15 years and there are areas in the state where there weren't a lot of black bears for a long time, and now there are some (areas) where people have been camping and recreating without bears on their radar," DeBloois said. "As (black bears) moved in, we didn't have a lot of conflicts, but people had bad habits that were likely to lead to conflict with bears because they were leaving dirty camps."

Utahns now seem poised to face a similar situation with long-absent grizzly bears.

"(We've) made a pretty good effort to get signage out with the Forest Service and let people know, 'You're in bear country.'" he said, adding that signage has been overlooked and dismissed.

Those "bad habits," including a statewide unfamiliarity with grizzlies, could lead to issues with human safety, as well as affect livestock producers.

While Utah, like other states, has a predator-loss program that provides financial compensation for livestock loss due to predation, the Utah Legislature has chosen to omit compensation for losses caused by federally protected species like grizzly bears.

Ecological benefits?

"(Apex predators) are ecosystem engineers. They do a lot of things that benefit all of us," said Tom Smith, a bear specialist and professor in BYU's plant and wildlife sciences department. "We're getting a lot of services for the ecosystem, scot-free. We're not going to have to pay for them when these animals come back. We're talking more diverse forests, more berry production, less stinging insects, we can go on and on."

It's been suggested that apex predators also help disperse ungulate species and prevent overgrazing. But DeBloois isn't certain whether the return of predators like grizzlies or wolves would help prevent damage to Utah's range lands.

"Elk numbers are usually kept below their carrying capacity, at more of a socially acceptable level because elk get into haystacks and other things," he said. "We're usually carrying fewer elk than what the habitat can support, so that's typically not a problem."

Still, he adds, a large portion of wild elk wear GPS collars, providing insight should they move into the state.

Lacking a plan

Utah doesn't yet have a management plan for grizzly bears, according to DeBloois. The big bears remain a protected species in the lower 48 states, giving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ultimate authority over their management.

If a grizzly were confirmed in Utah, DeBloois suspects state wildlife managers, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would attempt to capture and relocate the bear to one of the grizzly recovery zones outside the state, mirroring the state's current approach to wolf management.

"Until we have the ability to manage (grizzlies and wolves), I think we just assume not have them."

"On the other hand," says Debloois, "I'm sure there are some folks in the state that would really think it was cool to have grizzly bears return to Utah. That's the needle that has to be threaded by the social/political players."

Wildlife management in Utah is determined by the governor's office, wildlife board and the Legislature. The DWR then "uses our expertise to manage toward those objectives," he said, adding that Utahns should "start having those conversations with their state representatives. You know. What do the people of this state want?"

"I think it's a complex issue," said Smith. "But education is really the way forward."

Utahns can learn from grizzly management teams in neighboring states, where they "have been living around grizzlies a very long time," according to Jeremiah Smith, grizzly bear management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The last 50 years have been a bonanza for the serious study of bears, resulting in marked improvements to bear management strategies. "We know how to stay safe around grizzly bears," said Smith, who has studied bear interactions for 32 years.

Staying safe

When encountering a grizzly bear, you don't want popular information; you want reliable information.

Montana, Wyoming and Idaho all have quality resources to help educate the public, as do national parks like Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier, Katmai and Denali.

The two videos featured here come from the Cut-the-Crap guide to bear safety, a series of educational videos designed with the help of state and federal bear management teams, bear biologists, and attack survivors to weed out misinformation and ensure people have access to the best bear safety information available.

Given the seemingly imminent return of grizzly bears to the Beehive State, and all the management questions and issues that follow, there isn't a better time to learn how to share space with these long-absent predators.

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