Robert Chaney - The Grizzly in the Driveway: The Return of Bears to a Crowded American West

THE GRIZZLY IN THE DRIVEWAY

THE GRIZZLY IN

THE DRIVEWAY

THE RETURN OF BEARS TO
A CROWDED AMERICAN WEST

Robert Chaney

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS

Seattle

The Grizzly in the Drivewayis published with the assistance of a grant from the Ruth Kirk Book Fund, which supports publications that inform the general public on the history, natural history, archaeology, and Native cultures of the Pacific Northwest.

Copyright 2020 by the University of Washington Press

Design by Katrina Noble

Composed in Adobe Caslon Pro, typeface designed by Carol Twombly

Frontispiece: Courtesy Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department

24 23 22 21 20 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS

uwapress.uw.edu

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Chaney, Robert (Environment reporter), author.

Title: The grizzly in the driveway : the return of bears to a crowded American west / Robert Chaney.

Description: 1st. | Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020013482 (print) | LCCN 2020013483 (ebook) | ISBN 9780295747934 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780295747941 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : Grizzly bearConservationWest (U.S.) | Endangered speciesConservationWest (U.S.) | Wildlife conservationWest (U.S.)

Classification: LCC QL737.C27 C444 2020 (print) | LCC QL737.C27 (ebook) | DDC 599.7840978dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013482

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013483

The paper used in this publication is acid free and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI z39.481984.

To Magda, who does not like grizzly bears, and to Ania, who read every word

Fear the Bear

Two kinds of grizzly bears roam the world.

One came with creation, a creature scientifically designated as Ursus arctos. It is one of the most dominant predator mammals on the planet, in the class with lions and tigers and orcas. It grows twice as big as the more timid and widespread black bear ( Ursus americanus). While that larger species is commonly called the brown bear across its Northern Hemisphere habitat in North America, Europe, and Asia, the grizzly bear denotes a particular population of what is known as Ursus arctos horribilisliving in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, and Alaska, along with British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It can live for thirty years and weigh up to a thousand pounds; it raises and teaches its cubs for multiple years and possesses a physical strength unmatched by any other animal currently native to this continent.

The second grizzly bear is a creation of human imagination. It lives in dreams and nightmares and legends. It also inhabits law books and policy manuals: an impressionistic collection of behaviors and demographics and recovery criteria defining a living organism for the purposes of human management.