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"The legs of this bear are somewhat longer than those of the black, as are it's tallons and tusks in comparably larger and longer....it's color is yellowish brown, the eyes small black and piercing."
--Meriwether Lewis on the grizzly bear.
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Lewis and Clark heard rumors of the grizzly long before they first caught a glimpse of silver-tipped fur. Native Americans told stories of the bear's strength and resilience, and the explorers saw for themselves the massive tracks. By the time the Corps of Discovery had passed through what is now eastern Montana in the summer of 1805, the bears were no longer a mystery. They had encountered them swimming across rivers, running across the plains, and feeding on drowned bison. Grizzlies, it seemed, were everywhere.
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The Sierra Club, a national leader in grizzly bear conservation, recommends the following steps to help the bear:
Implement the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Designate prime grizzly bear habitat as wilderness.
Keep the grizzly in the lower 48 states listed as a threatened
species.
Ensure that states have adequate management plans for protecting grizzly bears and their habitat.
Limit dirt bikes and snowmobiles (especially in springtime) in grizzly habitat.
Reduce and reclaim roads on public lands to levels with which bears can live.
Improve the public's respect for bears and increase understanding about how to live with them. Measures include properly storing food and garbage and the use of pepper spray rather than more lethal methods of defense. The 19 human-caused grizzly bear deaths in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem in recent months underscore the need for improved education.
Compensate for habitat loss and food-source decline by ensuring ecological connectivity between Yellowstone and Canada.
- Learn more about threatened and endangered species.
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