Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Project

Principal Investigator

Katherine C. Kendall, USGS Glacier Field Station, Glacier National Park, West Glacier, MT 59936-0128 kkendall@usgs.gov

Objectives

  • Estimate of Population Size: Use sign surveys and systematic hair snag stations to obtain an estimate of the number of grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem (CYE) in northwest Montana and northeast Idaho.
  • Genetic Library: Develop a genetic database for grizzly bears in the CYE to assess genetic diversity and degree of relatedness of the CYE grizzly bear population.

Background

North American range map for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos)Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) once roamed most of the North American continent. Habitat destruction and direct conflicts with humans have reduced their range by 99% in the lower 48 states (right, click on map for larger version). In 1975 grizzly bears were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem (CYE) in northwest Montana and northeast Idaho is one of six recovery zones defined in the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1993). The CYE is the fourth largest in area and contiguous to a small Canadian population. Estimates place the total number of grizzlies that remain south of the Canadian border at fewer than 1100. It is thought there are between 30-40 animals within the 2,600 square-mile Cabinet-Yaak recovery zone. For more information about grizzly bear recovery, visit the U.S. F&WS Grizzly Bear Recovery Office webpage.

Related Materials

Related Projects

  • Northern Divide Bear Project (2003-2008): project website
  • Greater Glacier Bear DNA Project (1997-2002): project website
  • Use of Remote Camera Systems: Remote video and still cameras were used to: investigate how grizzly bears, black bears, and other wildlife species respond to baited, barbed wire hair traps; bear use of naturally-occurring bear rubs, bear marking behavior, and effects of putting barbed wire on bear rubs to facilitate hair collection; how hair traps may be modified to improve detection probabilities. Use of remote camera systems to investigate efficiency of DNA-based sampling methods

Keywords

grizzly bear, black bear, DNA finger printing, mark-recapture, wildlife, population, landscape scale, non-invasive sampling, conservation genetics, hair, microsatellites, polymerase chain reaction, Ursus arctos, Ursus americanus, hair snag, sign survey, genetics, Kootenai National Forest, Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, Montana, Idaho

Geographic Distribution

Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, Northwest Montana

NDGBP graphic