• Cooperative efforts with Defenders of Wildlife and Yellowstone National Park in producing 

 an informational book on bears for the "gateway communities" in the north and west portions 

 of the Yellowstone ecosystem. 



Day-to-day public contacts by FWP personnel during conflict situations with bears. 

 "Living with Grizzlies" brochure. 

 "Who's Who? Know Your Bear" brochure. 

 "Bears" brochure. 



"Be Bear Aware" children's handout. 

 "BEAR HUNTERS— Know Your Target!" wallet card 

 Internal education and training 



An alternative FWP considered was to not expand these efforts. However, in our judgment, 

 expanded efforts are essential to the objective to allow for expanded bear distribution and long- 

 term survival of the species. It was also suggested that the mandatory bear ID test for black bear 

 hunters be modified to require "in person" testing and that recertification be required. Because 

 this is a new program, it will be monitored to determine its success at reducing mistaken identity 

 mortalities. If adjustments such as those suggested or others become necessary, they may be 

 implemented in the future. 



Future Research 



Research is an ongoing process, and FWP's program is formatted so knowledge of the species 

 and their needs are always improving. Humans have the greatest influence on brown/grizzly 

 bear distribution and abundance in North America. Today's research techniques are expensive 

 and labor intensive. Also, some population estimation techniques are subjective, have no 

 estimate of precision, and cannot be replicated in a systematic manner. Some techniques require 

 radio-marking large numbers of individuals, which may not be feasible in some environments. 

 These techniques also typically provide density estimates in only small portions of the area 

 inhabited by the entire population, and they are currently expensive and have problems with 

 demographic and geographic closure, potential capture biases, and standardization of 

 experimental design. Design issues include grid size and scent lure rotation frequency, sample 

 collection frequency, and mathematical techniques for data analysis. Techniques based on visual 

 observations of unduplicated adult females accompanied by newborn cubs have been used to 

 estimate minimum population size and establish mortality quotas for bears in the Yellowstone 

 area, but extrapolation to a total population number or population density are viewed with 

 skepticism by some. Observational techniques using double-count procedures are under 

 investigation in Alaska. 



Continued improvement on assessing potential impacts of hunting are helpful because 

 brown/grizzly bears have one of the lowest reproductive rates among North American mammals. 

 Without such techniques, appropriate hunting opportunities may be needlessly curtailed or 

 populations may be overharvested. Ongoing assessments such as this are part of other wildlife 

 management programs and will be for grizzly bears. 



Montana needs a better means of assessing the biological carrying capacity of actual or potential 

 grizzly bear habitats. Such assessments are important to ensure that restoration efforts for 



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