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We have run a number of stories this year about bears, especially grizzly bears, getting in trouble in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Since then the berry crop failed and the whitebark pine nut crop is mostly just fair. The number of known dead grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone this year is approaching 50 (46 as…
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Bears now seeking extra calories to fatten up for hibernation- In case folks have forgotten, though few who read The Wildlife News are in that category, autumn is the time for what might look like gluttonous behavior in bears. In order to survive hibernation, bears needs thousands of what would normally be excess calories to put on…
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Grizzly bear and black bear attacks- Last week there were two bear attacks in Idaho. One was in the Island Park area near landmark Sawtelle Peak (10 miles west of Yellowstone Park). The other was near the western Idaho town of McCall. Idaho Fish and Game personnel trapped and then killed a male black bear in…
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Sightseers disturb bear feeding habits, biologists warn, but Park Service shows little willingness to redirect human traffic One of the most awe-inspiring wildlife spectacles in the world is the scene of brown bears catching salmon at Katmai National Park. During the summer sockeye salmon runs, brown bears congregate on the Brooks River to capture salmon…
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The sides, unfortunately that is the way it appears, are getting ready for the public meetings for the restoration of a grizzly bear population in Washington’s North Cascades Ecosystem. The first one is March 3 in Winthrop, WA. Here is the complete list. Tuesday, March 3rd in Winthrop from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Red Barn Upper…
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Doom and gloom hardly justified this year- Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone (GYE) and the Northern Continental Divide ecosystems (NCDE) had a very good year in 2014 when we consider bear mortality. In the GYE there were only 25 confirmed dead grizzlies. In 2013 there were 29 and in 2012 there were 59! In…
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Body found near remote Cub Creek- Reported missing on Sept. 7, the body of Adam Thomas Stewart has been found 3 miles north his camp in Cub Creek in the remote Teton Wilderness area, southeast of Yellowstone Park. Stewart was found near two deer carcasses that the bear was probably eating. The condition of his body has…
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This is a short email that Brian Horejsi sent me on mountain biking and bears. It is a thoughtful review of how mountain biking can have substantial impacts on wildlife. The basic science solidly supports the general claim that bikers and bikes are displacing bears, can contribute to their habituation and are consequently adding negative…
Author
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.