In North America, the grizzly's penchant for solitude has long made it a symbol of the frontier spirit. But despite its rugged image, the grizzly bear is more vulnerable to industrial development and other human activity than any other wildlife species in the northern Rockies. Roughly 1,500 grizzlies now inhabit the lower 48 states, down from as many as 100,000 in the early 1800s.

To ensure the recovery of grizzly bears in the lower 48, the current population must increase to two or three times its current size, according to wildlife biologists. Yet across the American West, oil and gas companies are pressing to open vast swaths of wildlands to drilling, even as logging, motor vehicle recreation and mining continue to threaten these pristine areas. Rural sprawl is also on the rise. As a result, grizzly habitats -- including the Yellowstone/Rockies and Castle-Bighorn BioGems -- are shrinking and fragmenting, leaving small grizzly populations isolated from food sources and one another.

To make matters worse, the Bush administration has announced it is removing the Yellowstone grizzly from the endangered species list. Stripping endangered species protection from this population of 300 to 600 bears would jeopardize its long-term recovery by opening its habitat to oil and gas drilling and other development and by allowing hunters to kill bears that roam outside the park's limits. "Delisting the Yellowstone bear prematurely could drive it back to the brink of extinction," says Louisa Willcox, director of NRDC's wild bears project. BioGems Defenders sent tens of thousands of messages protesting this reckless proposal, and we are preparing to fight it in court.

At the same time, the Bureau of Land Management is weighing a proposal right now that would open the door to destructive gas drilling on the flanks of Montana's spectacular Beartooth Mountains -- a crucial habitat for threatened Yellowstone grizzly bears.   

To help North America's imperiled grizzly populations flourish again, NRDC and BioGems Defenders are working to protect, restore and link bear habitats stretching from Yellowstone to northern Canada. And our efforts may be life-saving for many other species as well. According to scientific research, grizzly populations mirror the health of the ecosystems they inhabit. "Where you have grizzlies, you have healthy elk, watersheds and trout," says Willcox.

Photo credits: Top: © Patrick Endres, Alaska Stock; Bottom right and all slideshow photos: © Florian Schulz.

Map sources: U.S. and border region: Troy Merrill, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative; Canada: Michael F. Proctor, University of Calgary.