JACKSON -- Earlier this year, the Wyoming Legislature passed a bill mandating the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to notify the county sheriff and local media of the county to which a grizzly bear has been relocated.

The point, supporters argued, was to warn local residents that a known "problem" bear -- it likely had killed livestock but wasn't a safety threat to people -- was in their area.

Opponents of the bill feared it would generate more anti-grizzly sentiment, and might even draw grizzly hunters to a relocation area to kill it.

But supporters, including Jim Magagna and all but two legislators who voted for the bill, say it simply helps people be aware of potential grizzly risks.

"These are problem bears, at least with livestock, which are more like to be problems with people," Magagna said. He said he had not heard of anyone having a problem in the past after a bear was relocated and a rancher had not known.

"It's a matter of good management and concern for livestock and human safety," he said.

Louisa Willcox, wild bears project director with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the bill has worked by letting people know that a bear is in the area. That way they can store garbage correctly and take other precautions, she said.

JACKSON -- So far this year, seven male grizzly bears have been killed because of close encounters with humans.

Four of the losses were management removals, two were killed on roads, and one was dubbed an "accidental mortality" because of a management action involving two orphaned cubs frequenting a subdivision.

In addition to the seven males, a female grizzly died apparently last fall but was found in the spring. The cause of her death was undetermined.

Last year, six females died in human-caused actions, making it the first year since 1997 that mortality thresholds for females was exceeded in the grizzly bear population.

But those thresholds are being changed based on new science.

Previously, managers eyed two mortality thresholds. One was, no more than 4 percent of the minimum population estimate can be killed by people. The second is, no more than 30 percent of that 4 percent -- or only 1.2 percent -- can be female.

Both of those numbers are based on a six-year average.

Now, grizzly bear managers, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, Forest Service and states, are looking to raise the mortality thresholds -- which are designed to help managers create a stable population -- to 9 percent of the total population estimate. (In 2004, minimum population estimate was 431. Total population estimate was 581 bears.)

Unlike the 4 percent previous threshold, that 9 percent will include all grizzly mortalities, not just those caused by humans. That includes natural mortality and "undetermined."

The new sustainable mortality levels are set for three sex and age groups of bears -- independent males, independent females and dependent young. These levels will be monitored for a three-year average.

These numbers are aimed at keeping grizzly bear populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem stable at a minimum of 500 bears -- the target number for delisting from the Endangered Species Act.

But conservationists say that number is still too low to have a genetically viable population. Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials have said that threshold will likely be exceeded in the bear's periphery habitat, where it gets into conflict with humans.

Also this year, there were 31 females with cubs of the year, compared to 48 last year, according to Mark Haroldson, with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team.

He said that is likely because last year saw a poor pine nut crop, and snow persisted on moth sites in early spring where bears feed and where researchers count. He said the low number might be a combination of a poor count year and a lower reproduction year.

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@trib.com.