Fifty years after grizzly bears were protected under the Endangered Species Act, the status of the great bear remains in question due to ongoing habitat loss and high mortalities.
Bears are spread out mainly between two populations in the Northern Continental Divide and the Great Yellowstone Ecosystems, with much smaller numbers in the Selkirks of north Idaho, and the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem in northwest Montana. A plan has been approved to restore bears to Washington’s North Cascades ecosystem, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service is studying the possibility of returning the grizzly bear to Idaho’s Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem.
The great bear’s future largely depends on the actions and will of their human relatives to keep them viable into the future.
The Harder Foundation’s Northern Rockies funding has four primary goals:
- Secure a widespread, connected grizzly bear metapopulation,
- With sufficient quantity and quality of available, secure habitat in the lower 48
- Grizzly populations are managed under the guidance of federal and state rules and policies
- The conservation community has high levels of diverse ally support for these efforts
In order to achieve those goals, the Harder Foundation funds organizations who work in at least one of the following arenas of grizzly bear protection:
Building for the Future: We support organizations who prioritize the building up of the next generation of conservation leadres. Grizzly bears were once widespread across the West but today, occupy just a fraction of their original habitat. Fifty years after they were protected under the Endangered Species Act, the status of the great bear remains in question due to ongoing habitat loss and high mortalities. The grizzly bear’s future largely depends on the actions and the will of their human relatives to keep them viable into the future.
Advocacy and Organizing: We support organizations that protect grizzly bear habitat on public and private lands. We also support efforts to assure bears have the legal and administrative considerations, plans and protections they need to recover and thrive.
Securing Habitat Connectivity: We partner with organizations working to reconnect or keep connected key habitats within bear recovery areas and in between grizzly bear populations.
Conflict Reduction: We give grants to groups who work with landowners, recreationists and communities to employ tactics that reduce and/or eliminate human-bear conflicts.