The public has an opportunity to voice its opinions on a variety of conservation issues in a Wednesday, April 29, meeting before federal government representatives from Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) agencies. 

The Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee meeting runs the entire day at the Holiday Inn in Cody.

More than two hours during the afternoon will be set aside for “facilitated dialogue in small groups with agency leaders,” according to the committee’s draft agenda. Topics include climate change adaptation, terrestrial invasives, aquatic invasives, fisheries, wildlife, whitebark pine, fire management, air quality, hydrology and sustainable operations.

The meeting will be divided into groups of six to eight people to discuss two to three conservation issues between government representatives and citizens, who can voice their recommendations. “I think it’s always good for those agency people to listen to the public, because they don’t have a monopoly on ideas,” said Loren Grosskopf, Park County commissioner from Cody.

Federal agencies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem strive to work together. “The purpose is to coordinate our management,” said Joe Alexander, forest supervisor for the Shoshone National Forest and Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee chairman.

For example, the Forest Service and National Park Service have lands bordering each other, so they may employ the same personnel or equipment during the initial stages of a wildfire. “We share resources,” Alexander said.

“It’s about coordinating our acres across 15 million acres,” Alexander said. “This is really about the ecosystem.”

The committee is working on sustainable operations, such as managing fleets more efficiently with alternative fuels or adopting building standards that use more efficient lighting and heating, Alexander said.

Partnerships are an important component of the committee. For instance, the Forest Service assessed campgrounds in Montana and Wyoming where bear-human conflicts were likely. Wishing to reduce conflicts, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a nonprofit conservation organization, contributed $250,000 in matching funds to purchase bear-proof food storage containers for the campgrounds, Alexander said.

The committee also has a whitebark pine subcommittee whose purpose is to help ensure the long-term viability of the tree.

“I think it (whitebark) is going to survive,” Alexander said.

There are many young whitebark pine trees that are unaffected by pine beetles, but it takes many years for a whitebark to reach the level of maturity to produce good cones for seeds, he said.

The Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee is composed of park superintendents from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks; forest supervisors from Beaverhead-Deerlodge; Bridger-Teton, Caribou-Targhee, Custer Gallatin and Shoshone national forests; refuge managers from the National Elk Refuge and Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge; and Bureau of Land Management managers representing Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

At the October 2014 meeting in Bozeman, there were around 100 people in attendance. “It’s really informative,” Grosskopf said. “I was really impressed last year.”

In its 50 years of existence, this is the first time the committee will meet in Cody.  “I’m excited for the opportunity it presents to the community,” Alexander said.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee will meet April 30 and May 1 at the Holiday Inn in Cody.

The Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee will meet in Cody next week, providing a brief opportunity for members of the public to comment on grizzly bear conservation.

The meetings take place from 1-4:45 p.m. Thursday, April 30, and from 8-11:45 a.m., Friday, May 1, at the Holiday Inn.

One of the items on the agenda is an update concerning the removal of grizzlies from the Endangered Species List.

“It is time to turn them over to state management,” said Loren Grosskopf, Park County commissioner, who is a local Wyoming government representative on the committee.

Last fall, the committee recommended that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service remove grizzlies from the list. “We’re just waiting for the political side to take some action,” Grosskopf said.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department favors de-listing the grizzly, and the department believes it can manage the bruins, said Dan Thompson, Game and Fish statewide supervisor of the large carnivore management section in Lander.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would be the federal agency to make the delisting decision, Thompson said.

Grizzly bears have expanded outside appropriate habitat and are turning up outside Shoshone National Forest where human-bear conflicts occur. Park County has more grizzly problems than the Jackson or Bozeman, Mont. areas, Grosskopf said.

Some delisting opponents say grizzlies don’t have genetic connectivity to other bears in Canada and locations such as the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in western Montana.

Grosskopf has a solution to gain genetic diversity and to separate bears from the scene of their conflicts.

Every year trouble bears in Park County are captured and relocated to Teton County. Some grizzlies return to the place where they caused trouble, such as the Clark landfill. Why not catch them and transplant them to the Bob Marshall Wilderness instead, Grosskopf suggested.

The public is welcome to attend. “There are public comment periods at the end of both days, Thompson said.

Public comments will be accepted from 4:30-4:45 p.m. on Thursday and from 11:30-11:45 a.m. on Friday, according to the agenda.