Yellowstone Gate (https://www.yellowstonegate.com/tag/research-2/)
People visiting Yellowstone National Park this summer should follow some simple advice to avoid being injured by wildlife: keep your distance, and no bison selfies. That's the conclusion of a report issued this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that examined five separate incidents leading to injuries caused by bison in the park last summer. Continue Reading →
Biologists with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) plan to conduct trapping of grizzly bears within Grand Teton National Park as part of ongoing research efforts required under the Endangered Species Act. The trapping allows researchers to collect data and monitor the population of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Monitoring of grizzly bear distribution, as well as their food selection and other activities, is vital to recovery of grizzlies across the GYE. Trapping operations will begin Wednesday, May 6, and continue through June 30, 2015. Continue Reading →
Yellowstone National Park's departing top scientist says his staff has long conducted "world-class" research on animals like gray wolves and grizzly bears, but that there is room for improvement in learning more about public opinion on key issues. David Hallac, who has spent the past three years as division chief of the Yellowstone Center for Resources, said it is important for park managers to continue to work closely with state wildlife experts, and to develop more hard data about public perceptions of wildlife and park policies. Continue Reading →
Most visitors to Yellowstone National Park rank the chance to see a grizzly bear at or near the top of their vacation wish lists. But park managers struggle with how to best keep humans and bruins safe when crowds gather to view wildlife along the roadside. When it comes to educating visitors about the risks and rules of watching bears, it turns out the most effective communication method is the one used least often. Visitors who received an oral explanation from a park ranger were "much more likely" to correctly remember safety advice and regulations than those who got information from any other means. Yet that was the method of communication encountered by the fewest respondents. Continue Reading →
A site in Yellowstone National Park has been proposed as one of 60 key monitoring stations in what is shaping up to be the largest long-term study of climate change in North America. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Ecological Observatory Network will gather a wide range of data at sites spread among 20 distinct eco-climatic domains across the United States. The project, budgeted at $60 million for the 2013 fiscal year, is designed to run for 30 years or longer in an effort to help researchers track the long-term effects of climate change across the entire continent. Continue Reading →
For years, many conservationists have worried what grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem will eat as changing climate and habitat conditions bring fewer whitebark pine nuts, cutthroat trout and other prime food sources. A recent study offers an answer: almost anything else. Research by several state and federal wildlife biologists found that grizzlies across the Yellowstone area eat a total of 266 different species of plants and animals, and display an amazingly adaptable diet that ranges from moths to algae. Continue Reading →
The 12th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is being held over three days this week at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, centered on a theme of "Crossing Boundaries." But judging from some of the comments during Tuesday's panel discussions and coffee breaks, it seemed like the conference itself had at times crossed a boundary from the world of esoteric hypotheses posed by cautious researchers into a realm of eager discovery and engaged debate by journalists, advocates and members of the general public. Continue Reading →
Yellowstone visitors would pay an additional $41 to ensure seeing roadside grizzlies, a study shows, and the attraction creates 155 jobs and more than $10 million a year for the regional economy. The $41 visitors would pay is on top of the $25-per-vehicle entrance fee. If Yellowstone no longer allowed grizzly bears to use roadside habitat — and instead chased, moved or killed them — the regional economy would lose more than $10 million a year and 155 jobs according to the paper “The economics of roadside bear viewing.” Continue Reading →
Old Faithful is the most popular destination in Yellowstone National Park, but it's also one of the park's most fragile natural wonders, and one still not fully understood by researchers and managers charged with protecting the iconic geyser and other nearby thermal features. A newly released report written by a panel of scientists advises caution in how the Old Faithful area is developed and managed, and recommends additional research meant to better grasp the complex forces driving the Upper Geyser Basin hydrothermal system. Continue Reading →
Abstract submissions for the 12th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will be accepted April 4, 2014 to June 4, 2014. This year's conference theme is “Crossing Boundaries in Science, Management, and Conservation” focusing on the challenges and opportunities posed by crossing environmental, disciplinary, and jurisdictional boundaries in the quest to achieve one greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Continue Reading →