Tag Archives: bear population

Eastbound grizzlies

November 21, 2009Environmental Issues, Newsbear population, bear recovery, grizzly bearsnfpa

Other than the grizzly connection, this is not really North Fork related, but it’s pretty interesting. According to an article in last Thursday’s New West, a whole new group of people are going to have to get used to having grizzly bears in the neighborhood . . .

Montanans living along the winding Teton River, well east of the Rocky Mountain Front were quick to notice their new neighbor this summer. As early as the beginning of July, ranchers and other landowners along the prairie began intermittently spotting a solitary grizzly bear journeying east, away from the mountains.

Read the entire article . . .

New griz study to focus on rub trees

May 12, 2009Environmental Issues, Newsbear population, bear study, grizzly bearsnfpa

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

September 17, 2008Environmental Issues, Newsbear population, bear study, DNA study, grizzly bear, Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, USGSnfpa

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

September 16, 2008Environmental Issues, Newsbear population, bear study, DNA study, grizzly bear, Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, USGSnfpa

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 . . .