Two sub-adult grizzly bears running through fields and yards north of Powell is just one more sign of how many of the big bruins there are in this region. 

These bears were well outside of what is deemed their appropriate space as defined by the Demographic Monitoring Area covering the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Most likely, they’ve been pushed out by older grizzly males, as the species places a premium on protecting its own area. Therefore, if grizzly populations continue on this upward trajectory, there could be a time when this sighting becomes less a front page news story and more what happens in Wapiti, when people often just update on social media that another bear is running through yards. 

Obviously, that’s an extreme hypothetical as Wapiti is within the DMA, while Powell is not, but it’s still worth thinking about what could be the situation 10 years down the road. 

Now, in other parts of the country people will note that even with all of this growth, grizzlies still only occupy a fraction of the territory they once did. But of course, unlike raccoons and deer, grizzly bears frequenting suburban streets and rummaging through the garbage in a city back alley just wouldn’t work, so there have to be limits. 

And in the Yellowstone region, it seems we’ve more than hit that limit. Which is why this small first step recently announced by the federal government to allow for more local management of the population ought to soon be followed up with a full delisting. 

The Yellowstone area grizzly bear is recovered.  The bears have proliferated over the area of good habitat in the region, and now they need to be managed just like any other nonthreatened species. 

Eventually, that management should also include hunting, as Wyoming had tried to set up after the bear was briefly delisted in 2017. There may be a strategy to delay a hunting season for a year to lessen the proliferation of lawsuits from environmental groups, but those will certainly still come. 

Still, as these two sub-adult grizzlies running through yards north of Powell shows yet again — as a bear around Byron years ago previously displayed — area grizzly bears are doing just fine. Now, it’s time to take the next step and acknowledge that fact.