Four grizzlies, including a female with two cubs, have drowned in the concrete-lined Heart Mountain Canal near Cody in the past two years, raising the question if anything could — or should — be done to prevent it.
That plays into the larger question of just how far grizzlies should be allowed to push out from their core habitat in Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding national forests.
Grizzlies are expanding beyond “suitable habitat” and running into trouble and hazards, including the canal, Wyoming Game and Fish Large Carnivore Specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
Retired federal ecologist and bear advocate Chuck Neal of Cody told Cowboy State Daily that he doesn’t like the grizzlies’ range being limited to only the high country.
“I disagree with that, but that’s the official thinking,” he said. “They’re trying to discourage the bears from coming out of the mountain lands.”
‘Ladder-Like Approach’
The U.S. Geological Survey tracks grizzly mortalities in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which is mostly in Wyoming, but includes parts of Montana and Idaho.
According to the USGS, 38 grizzlies have died of various causes in the Greater Yellowstone so far this year.
The latest were an adult female and two male cubs that drowned in the Heart Mountain Canal on Sept. 3, USGS reports.
Last year, the agency’s grizzly mortality list included an adult male that drowned in the canal July 6, 2023.
Grizzlies likely go into the canal because they like water and are used to crossing creeks and rivers, Neal said.
“They go back and forth across the North Fork River all the time. They’re very powerful swimmers,” he said.
However, when they enter the canal, grizzlies find out too late that they can’t climb back out of the concrete lining, so they become exhausted and eventually drown, he said.
That could be mitigated, Neal said.
“At regular intervals along the canal, they could have something on either side,” he said. “They could take a “ladder-like approach,” giving the bears something to grip and hoist themselves out.
But he doesn’t expect any such steps to be taken.
“They are actually encouraging the mortality of these bears as they come out of the forest lands and enter what they consider to be ‘socially unacceptable’ habitat,” he said.
Grizzlies Run Into Problems Outside Of Core Habitat
Thompson said the canal drownings are unfortunate, but they are happening outside of the established limits of the bears’ range in northwest Wyoming.
“This is an unfortunate circumstance. There's so much power in water, and if an animal gets caught up in it, they are unable to get out, even grizzly bears,” he said.
“As grizzly bears have expanded beyond suitable habitat and beyond the Demographic Monitoring Area they run into more problematic situations whether it be cornfields, beehives, gardens, more people and, yes, this canal,” he said.
“The occurrence of bears drowning is otherwise pretty rare, but this unique circumstance has occurred several times over the last decade or so as grizzly bears have expanded in distribution, abundance and density,” Thompson added.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
