Grizzly Bear Study in Yellowstone

When you think of Yellowstone National Park, grizzly bears probably come to mind. Researchers are gearing up for a study looking at the trends of this bear population that has become quite the attraction.

Next week, the 'Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team' which consists of representatives from FWP, The Forest Service and various other organizations will head to Yellowstone National Park to bait and trap grizzly bears.

Their main objectives are to monitor the status of the grizzly population and what patterns they develop in their habitat. Bears will be trapped and briefly put under while the team will radio-collar them and collect various samples.

This study is not the first of its kind. The team has been doing such studies since the 70's.

“Grizzly bears in Yellowstone have international recognition so there is a lot of interest in this population and people really want to know the status of the population… is the population increasing or stabilizing and how bears in this ecosystem are doing,” said IGBS team leader, frank van Manen.

In the 70's the closure of open pit garbage dumps in the park caused the grizzly's mortality rate to sky-rocket. In 1975 there were only 136 grizzly's in the park but with studies like these and an aggressive recovery attempt there are now 700 to 800 grizzly's in the park.

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