From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .
An ongoing grizzly bear population trend study got off to a good start this year with three bears being captured and fitted with radio collars in the North Fork Flathead drainage.
But that’s just the start of trapping efforts that will carry on for the next few months throughout the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, which stretches from the mountains of southern Alberta to the southern end of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
This Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks press release, posted today on the Flathead Beacon web site, is a North Fork-specific follow-up on the grizzly bear monitoring effort announced three weeks ago:
Grizzly bear population capture efforts for monitoring in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) have concluded in the North Fork Drainage. Three bears were captured and fitted with radio transmitters during the effort. FWP Biologists will closely follow the bears’ movements.
FWP Biologist Rick Mace notes that the successful capture operation will enable FWP to monitor the survival and reproduction of grizzly bears in this important area of the NCDE. It was recently concluded that the grizzly bear population in the NCDE is growing at a rate of 3 percent per year, based on an analysis and publication by Mace and his colleagues in an upcoming edition of The Journal of Wildlife Management. Grizzly bear monitoring capture efforts now move to other areas of the NCDE. The project is primarily funded by FWP and the U. S. Forest Service.
In other grizzly bear news, an adult female grizzly and her yearling were captured in the Blankenship Bridge area of the North Fork of the Flathead Drainage on June 13. The two grizzlies were released today in the Coal Creek area. The bears were grazing on green grass at private residences. The move was a pre-emptive measure to avoid conflicts with residents.
Yet another sign of spring is this recent press release from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks . . .
As part of ongoing efforts required under the Endangered Species Act to monitor the population of grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE), Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the US Fish & Wildlife Service and Tribal wildlife managers are working to inform the public that pre-baiting and scientific capture operations are once again about to begin in parts of western Montana.
Biologists will begin to work this month in the Blackfoot Valley, many areas along the Rocky Mountain Front, and Swan, Clearwater, Mission, Jocko and Flathead River Valleys. Capturing will continue intermittently through the end of October. Traps will also be set periodically on private lands where bear/human conflicts are occurring.
All areas where work is being conducted will have warning signs posted along the major access points to the trapping site. It is critical that all members of the public heed these signs.
Monitoring of grizzly bear distribution and other activities are vital to ongoing recovery of grizzlies in the NCDE. In order to attract bears, biologists utilize natural food sources such as fresh road–killed deer and elk. Potential trapping sites are baited with these natural foods and if indications are that grizzly bears are in the area, snares or culvert traps will be used to capture the bears. Once trapped, the bears are sedated, studied, and released in accordance with strict protocols.
For more information regarding grizzly bear trapping efforts call FWP in Missoula at 406-542-5500 or FWP in Kalispell at 406-752-5501.
From the Thursday, November 20, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
It’s been a fairly good year for grizzly bears in the greater Glacier Park area. This year 11 bears were killed due to human circumstances, according to figures provided by Chris Servheen, the grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
Read the entire article . . .
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 . . .
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 . . .