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Wildlife management agencies are reporting that the delisting of the grizzly bear in Montana is in sight.

MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks staff, along with representatives from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, told the MT Environmental Quality Council that they are developing a post-delisting management plan.

They expect the plan to be complete by the end of 2012, with an application for delisting by 2015.

Chris Servheen, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Recovery Coordinator, said, "This management plan details things like limits on mortality, so it sets sustainable limits on mortality, how many bears can die. It sets habitat management standards for public lands, forest service, BLM and parks service lands. It establishes procedures for management of bear-human conflict and how these can be resolved by still maintaining a healthy population."

The Environmental Quality Council also heard about alternate tracking methods from the Montanore Project.

They report success in using dogs to track bear scat and then calculate bear populations.

MT FWP and US FWS don't currently use this method.