Tag Archives: Chuck Jonkel

Chuck Jonkel’s mementos burgled

July 2, 2022NewsChuck Jonkelnfpa

Arrgh!!! . . .

Burglars looted the late grizzly researcher Chuck Jonkel’s Missoula home twice last week, stealing not only historic bear memorabilia but current wildlife research files.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear manager Jamie Jonkel, Chuck Jonkel’s son, discovered the break-in on Monday at the home near the base of Mount Sentinel. The thieves had apparently spent hours rooting around in the house, taking the senior Jonkel’s collections of bear pins and jewelry, rare coins and stamps, spotting scopes, and other personal items. They also took several things belonging to Jamie Jonkel, including his FWP work computer and a sack full of thumb-drives loaded with photos and videos of grizzly management activity.

‘Walking Bear Comes Home: The life and work of Chuck Jonkel’ premiers on April 20

March 28, 2017Environmental Issues, Movies and Video, Newsbear research, Chuck Jonkel, Great Bear Foundationnfpa

From the Great Bear Foundation web site . . .

Walking Bear Comes Home: The life and work of Chuck Jonkel – A production of the Great Bear Foundation and Caribou Crossing

World premiere screening April 20th, 2017 at 5:00 PM
40th International Wildlife Film Festival
Roxy Theater, Missoula, Montana

Please join us for a reception to honor Dr. Jonkel at: 400 PM at the Roxy, followed by the screening at 5:00. After the film, we’ll celebrate with the launch of Great Bear Cider at Western Cider from 7:00-9:00, with 10% of the proceeds benefiting the Great Bear Foundation.

For more information, including how to order the DVD, go to the “Projects” page at the Great Bear Foundation web site and click on “Documentary Film on Charles Jonkel.”

Remembering bear expert Chuck Jonkel

April 24, 2016Environmental Issues, Newsbear study, Chuck Jonkel, Great Bear Foundationnfpa

Articles remembering and praising Chuck Jonkel continue to roll in, including the below column by Larry Wilson and nice pieces by Rob Breeding and Chris Peterson . . .

Dr. Charles ‘Chuck’ Jonkel passed over The Great Divide this week. He never owned property on the North Fork, but spent so many years here researching bears that I feel he was an actual North Forker.

My first memories of Chuck came in the late 1950s or early 1960s when he was on the North Fork doing research on black bears. Mel Ruder did an extensive article in the HHN with pictures of Chuck going into the den of a hibernating black bear to work on the sleeping bear.

Read more . . .

Also read:

The Great Bear’s BFF (Flathead Beacon)

Biologist Jonkel ‘spoke truth to power’ (Hungry Horse News)

Chuck Jonkel, world-renowned bear expert and advocate, dies at 85

April 14, 2016Environmental Issues, News, Sciencebear study, Chuck Jonkel, Great Bear Foundationnfpa

This is truly the end of an era. Chuck Jonkel passed away Tuesday at age 85.

Rob Chaney of the Missoulian wrote a first-rate obituary. Recommended reading . . .

Grizzly bears emerging from their winter dens will encounter a changed landscape: Longtime grizzly advocate Chuck Jonkel has died.

“Mr. Jonkel was truly a pioneer in grizzly bear science,” said Leanne Marten, Regional Forester for the Forest Service’s Northern Region. “Montana will miss him greatly. Everything we know about grizzly bears is due to Mr. Jonkel’s expertise.”

Jonkel died Tuesday evening at his home in Missoula. He was 85.

“Tim Ryan from the Flathead Reservation came down on Monday and did a Salish smoke ceremony for Dad, and then (Blackfeet singer) Jack Gladstone and Patty Bartlett sang him off on Tuesday morning,” son Jamie Jonkel said. “We took him down by the river for the ceremony, and he really liked that.”

Read more . . .