Annual Grizzly Bear Research Set To Resume In September

As they have for 36 years, members of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST), are set to resume research work in Yellowstone National Park.

This long-term monitoring and research effort provides critical information used to monitor the status of the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This and other data helps wildlife managers devise and implement programs to support the ongoing recovery of the grizzly bear population.

Over the coming weeks, team members will attempt to trap bears at several remote sites in Yellowstone National Park. Once trapped, the bears are sedated in to allow wildlife biologists to conduct scientific studies of the grizzlies in accordance with long established protocols. The trapping work is set to begin in early September and will continue through the end of October.

None of the trap sites in the park are near any established hiking trails or backcountry campsites. All trap sites will have a posted perimeter. Potential access points will also be posted with warning signs. In the very unlikely event that backcountry users were to come upon one of these posted areas, they need to heed the warning and stay out of the posted area.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team was formed in 1973 in response to population impacts of the National Park Service’s decision to close open pit garbage dumps and transition to natural ecosystem management of wildlife.

The IGBST is composed of representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribal Fish and Game Department, and the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/research/igbst-home.htm