North Fork Preservation Association » bear study

Glacier National Park participates in long-term grizzly monitoring study

nfpa — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:33:15 +0000

An interesting press release posted to Glacier Park’s web site yesterday . . .

Glacier National Park is participating in a long-term interagency program to monitor the trend of the grizzly bear population in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. Bait stations, automated cameras, and traps will be used to capture and monitor grizzly bears within the park. The program attempts to maintain a sample of up to 10 radio-marked female grizzly bears out of an estimated population of 300 grizzly bears living in the park.

Bait stations and trap sites will be marked with brightly colored warning and closure signs. For safety reasons visitors are reminded to heed and comply with these signs and not enter areas closed for baiting or trapping. A man died last year seven miles east of Yellowstone National Park after he wandered into a capture site and was attacked by a grizzly bear. Trapping efforts will continue at various locations throughout Glacier National Park beginning June through October. For further information, please contact park bear biologist, John Waller, at (406) 888-7829.

New griz study to focus on rub trees

nfpa — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:29:16 +0000

Another sure sign of spring: A new bear study.

From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .

A new and expansive effort to monitor the Northern Continental Divide’s grizzly bear population will capitalize on a creature comfort for bears: the irresistible urge to scratch their backs on trees.

The research project mainly will be aimed at determining whether collecting hair samples from rub trees over three successive years can provide a reliable measure of whether the region’s grizzly population is stable, growing or shrinking.

It will be led by Kate Kendall, the U.S. Geological Survey scientist who spearheaded two previous grizzly bear population studies based on genetic analysis of bear hair.

Read the entire article . . .

DNA study doubles bear census

nfpa — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:39:05 +0000

Here’s a better article on the recently completed grizzly bear DNA study. Yesterday’s AP write-up was a little thin.

From the Wednesday, September 17, 2008 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

The estimate is in: There were 765 grizzly bears roaming the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem during the summer of 2004.

That’s the official result of an ambitious and unprecedented genetic study of the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states. The study will be published in the January edition of the Journal of Wildlife Management.

Read the entire article . . .

Federal Study Says Grizzlies Thriving in Montana

nfpa — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:29:52 +0000

From the Tuesday, September 16, 2008 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

The majestic grizzly bear, once king of the Western wilderness but threatened with extinction for a third of a century, has roared back in Montana…

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey announced Tuesday that there are approximately 765 bears in northwestern Montana. That’s the largest population of grizzly bears documented there in more than 30 years, and a sign that the species could be at long last rebounding.

Read the entire article . . .