Life in the Lower 48

Life in the Lower 48. . , In their thousands of years of existence, grizzlies never faced a competitor as relentless, hostile, and lethal as the American pioneer., Competition has always been a reality for American grizzlies. They competed with much larger Ice Age carnivores, and avoided being eaten by many of them, right up until most of those carnivores went extinct. Later, they faced competition from black bears and native tribes, whose influence shaped the bounds of their western range., In their thousands of years of existence, though, grizzlies never faced a competitor as relentless, hostile, and lethal as the American pioneer. Throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries, grizzlies of the Lower 48 were trapped, shot, and poisoned nearly to extinction by western settlers, farmers, and ranchers convinced that the bears posed a significant risk to livestock and human safety.,

"Living with animals like grizzly bears… demands that we accommodate these other beings who impose constraints on us, that we find of openness for them…just like we have to do with other people." , , Dr. David Mattson, grizzly bear expert

, By 1975, when American grizzlies were granted protective status under the Endangered Species Act, only 700-800 bears remained in the Lower 48. Today, they survive only 2% of their former range, all protected territory that intersects the states of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington.