Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural resources

·A Chat with a Grizzly Bear Expert Carrion Beetles and Biodiversity. Observing Yellowstone Otters

Volume 6 Number I The Legacy of Research

As we begin a new year for Yellowstone But scientific understanding comes big and small. Studies of non-charismatic Science (the journal and, more important, slowly, often with P.ainstaking effort. creatures and features are as vital to our the program), we might consider the As a graduate student I was cautioned understanding the ecosystem as those of value of the varied research undertaken that my goal should not be to save the megafauna. in and around the park. It is popular in world with my research, but to contrib­ For 24 years, Dick Knight studied some circles to criticize the money we­ ute a small piece of knowledge from a one of Yellowstone's most famous and our society, not just the National Park Ser­ particular time and place to just one dis­ controversial species. With ~bluntness vice-spend on science. Even many of cipline. I recalled this advice as I spoke atypical of most government bureau­ us who work within a scientific discipline with Nathan Varley, who in this issue crats, he answered much of what we admit that the ever-present "we need shares results of his work on river otters, demanded to know about grizzly bears, more data" can be both a truthful state­ about his worry that he could not defini­ never seeking the mantel of fame or ment and an excuse for not taking a stand. tively comment about their abundance. limelight that often falls easily upon Researchers themselves are often Otters have not previously been studied biologists who study endangered spe­ prone to apologize for not being able to here, and his observations of their behav­ cies. At the end of his career he mar­ give definitive answers to what may seem iors and distribution are a valuable con­ vels at how much there is still to learn, like simple questions. How many species tribution to Yellowstone science. and leaves us with a rich legacy of re­ are there in Yellowstone? How abundant Sandwiched between two stories of search added to the body of know ledge is each one? Should there be more, and popular favorites is Derek Sikes' article about grizzly bears. For myself and for what can we do to make it so? Our ea­ on canion beetles. His fascination with many others who value the wild crea­ gerness to learn and to do right in our the often-overlooked invertebrate fauna tures of Yellowstone, I say thank you, mission to conserve the park's compo­ comes through with humor as he reminds and farewell. nent species and ecological processes us how much we have yet to learn about makes us anxious to know with certainty. the complex interactions among species, SCM Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural resources Volume 6 Number 1 Winter 1998 Table of Contents

Holding on to Yellowstone's Grizzlies: A Parting 2 Chat with a 24-year Veteran of Yellowstone's Grizzly Bear Wars From the closure of garbage dumps to the recent expansion of bears throughout greater Yellowstone, one scientist was at the helm studying the threatened creatures throughout an array of controversies. Interview with Richard R. Knight Hidden Biodiversity: The Benefits of Large 10 Rotting Carcasses to Beetles and Other Species Rooting around in the detritus of the Lamar Valley, an entomologist probes the largest order of life on Earth and reminds us that vertebrate grazers, predators, and scavengers are only the tip of the iceberg in a complex ecological community. by Derek S. Sikes Editor Yellowstone's River Otters: Enigmatic Water 15 Sue Consolo-Murphy Art Director Weasels A biologist captures information about these little-studied animals-on Renee Evanoff film, and in a report that documents his observations of these elusive Associate Editor riverine residents of the riparian zone. Sarah Broadbent by Nathan Varley Assistant Editor Mary Ann Franke News and Notes 19 Printing •Draft Report Released on Brucellosis Science• Wolf Population Artcraft Inc. Growing • Cascade Geyser Rejuvenates • IGBST Gets New Leader • Bozeman, Montana Celebrating "People and Place" • Park Staff Test GPS Accuracy • Archeological Research Reveals New Information On the cover: Otter pup. See re­ lated story on page 15. Photo cour­ tesy Nathan Varley/Landis Wildlife ~~t!~v~i~;~;~J~~l~,2V~fif' Films. Above: Archeologicalfield­ work in Yellowstone. See page 20. Photo courtesy Mack Shortt. ' { . <#"_-;;· ~ "'.\.,- ... '~ • ' ~\;.. '"''iifi!;.r·-· 'I!;'.·Tu' \ /'•' '" ~ ·~"' y !llJlelCJ' JYii~ m~Sion'Cil association lf.,ith DiCk 9nd his stud':J·, ' pight, either~ .£,. .in'Wyothing and!r~d in a,·fteam. ,. ' ! So,j.di~n'thearfro)nhimuntilprob~ • ·~if whe71he'Tarned~c'lff!Jc{pd ':*~ ~ · ·vi$'<¥* ~"' " agly J\ugb~t~lfld he ~alled me up and .• · degreessin.wrtfil[fe Ji;logy. A r earn- YS:.!:J:ow did" get start~d studying [said] '"Gladys and I were wondering ing {J,. Bli.D. studx,frlg~Montanct's Sii!lrbeaf2:r,·• . · ·• where we'd like to go for Labor '; :,,.. Riv~®el~ her4.'1'!.JJ,iis teaching at the,~· DK: )1, as tired of teaching. I Day ... and she says, I'd like to go over ' Univ~rsity of'liJ1!f!ho when}ie1was-lured wante to get ack in !be field. I had a lot and visitthe Knights in Moscow, Idaho." awaY," FJe becamlfjle'fi;st-and 1f'ntil his •of coni~ct with bears when I was in !be I said, "Well, !be steelhead fishing's good, retirem;nt in Sepiembe; 1997, the ;nly- Bob ~arshall Wilderness Area in Mon- come over." And I turned to my wife and head of the Interagency Grizzly Bear tana. I was slated to do a grizzly bear said "Something's wrong in Yellowstone Study Team (!GEST), created in the af- study up there, after I was done studying Park, because Glen never goes anyplace termath of a stormy parting between elk and sheep and deer; we never got for pleasure; there's something up." The Yellowstone National Park and brothers around to it. grizzly bear job was corning open, and Frank and John Craighead, who studied I first started working for Glen Cole Glen came over and said, "We've got this grizzly bears in the park from 1959 until [supervisory research biologist for position, and I want you to apply for it." 1969. Dr. Knight has published numer- Yellowstone National Park from 1969 to YS: Did you see changing from water­ ous papers on the grizzly bears of _1975] in Montana, so we're old friends. fowl and ungulates to bears as a career Yellowstone and advised managers When I was in Idaho I kept bringing field shift, or as fish biologists would when through thorny controversies since the trips to Yellowstone every year, and I'd movingfromgraylingtotrout?Wereyou population was listed as "threatened" have dinner with Glen and Gladys and aware of how controversial it was? under the Endangered Species Act in we'd talk about old times. We had an ar- DK: It's just a different animal to work 1975. He was interviewed for gument in spring 1972, something to do on. If I had known what !be next five Yellowstone Science in August of 1997 with natural regulation, and some as- years were going to be like, I'd still be by the editor and John Varley, Director sumptions that he was making that I running !be other way! I'd been through of Yellowstone's Center for Resources, didn't think he could make. He just got a lot of controversies and stuff... but the both of whom have had a long profes- mad-I didn't get invited to dinner !bat feds-people stab you in the back for

2 Yellowstone Science (NAS) review of the grizzly bear data.] the Forest Service, all we got was office DK: This was before that started in 1974; space. And when Steve Judd left the Fish I'd been here a while. We'd have these and Wildlife Service, they took his money meetings, of a steering committee which to hire Chris Servheen, [as Grizzly Bear was like the IGBC [the present day 1n­ Recovery Coordinator]. Fish and Wild­ teragency Grizzly Bear Committee, made life Service kept giving us $25,000 a year up ofsenior agency managers]; ithad six for quite a while, but a couple years ago agencies, and I had advice like you they gave that up because they didn't have couldn't believe. I had Starker Leopold the money. and Durward Allen putting in their two­ YS: Was it your idea or someone else's cen ts worth; you had to take their that stationed you in Bozeman, associ­ thoughts seriously. These people had ated with the Montana State University great ideas on what to do-I've got a list campus, a bit removed from Yellowstone of them someplace-it's about a foot long and the other land managers? of things to look at, with $47,000 in the DK: You know how that happened? At budget! the International Association of Fish and YS: Did that include your salary? Game Commissioners in 1974, they de­ DK: Yep! So I just went ahead and de­ cided to have a committee on grizzly cided what to do. Of course, we couldn't bears. They said they didn't see how Dick Dick Knight setting a bear trap. Photo do much since we weren't allowed to tag Knight could be objective, since he was courtesy Bonnie Blanchard. bears to start with, but we just designed a right in Yellowstone Park. So, Nat Reed study and did it. Once a year I'd report to said, "We'll move him to Montana State the steering committee and they'd spend University." And that was it. I didn'tknow practice! I wasn't used to all that. most of two days fighting with each other. about it until my boss called me and said, First, I didn't know who was super­ First it was about whether the bears "We're moving you up to Bozeman." I vising me. No one was-no one really would be listed or not. The states would said, "I can't afford to move to ever has-but I was reporting to Wash­ be fighting with the feds, and the Forest Bozeman." He said, "We'll promote you:' ington, D. C., and I was supposed to be Service would fight with the Park Ser­ But the promotion took almost 20 years! working for Nathaniel Reed [Assistant vice and the Fish and Wildlife Service. YS: So you were supposed to study bears Secretary of the Interior in 1973]. Even­ About the last half-day, they'd say, "What and you had almost no money, and you tually I was reporting to the National Park have you been doing, Dick?" And I'd tell couldn't touch them? Why was that? Service's (NPS) chief scientist, then they them and I'd go my way for another year. Weren't, if I recall, the "green groups" reassigned me to Bay St. Louis, Missis­ YS: Wasn't each state and federal land or against trapping and collaring any bears· sippi, then Denver, and finally, on paper wildlife management agency in the eco­ at that time? at least, to Yellowstone National Park. system to help fund the IGBST? DK: There was opposition from all kinds YS: Did you get much direction in the DK: The original deal, made in West of people. Even some government people beginning about your mission and that Yellowstone in 1972, was that everybody were against it because the Craigheads of the new concept-an independent would contribute money and a person, had tagged bears and used radiotelem­ group of scientists from various agencies, and everybody would hire a new biolo­ etry, and they didn't want anything to do working together to study the gist that wasn't part of their outfit to be­ with anything the Craigheads had done. ecosystem's grizzly population? Was this come part of the team. Actually, the Park So I couldn't radiocollar bears. on the heels of the National Academy of Service was the only one that hired some­ We were interested in assessing the Science's review of the Craigheads' data body new. Of course, they had to keep population, but the only thing I could do and the Park Service's reinterpretation of the deal, 'cause Nat Reed was oversee­ for the first two years was collect bear it? [Ed. note: The rift between the NPS ing all this stuff. The Fish and Wildlife scats and assess some habitat use. We'd and the Craigheads was largely due to Service transferred in one of their guys see bears from observation flights and disagreement over whether to abruptly who had just finished another project, and record that, but there was no way that we close park garbage dumps, where bears the same with the Forest Service. Wyo­ were going to get any good population had fed for decades, or to phase the ming took Larry Roop, who was work­ data at all, because bears are hard to work dumps out and wean the bears slowly ing with their magazine at that time, and with to start with-they're secretive and back to natural foods. It was a time when they put him on the team. Montana as­ low density, and it's pretty tough. NPS policy was moving toward what is signed Ken Greer part time, and Idaho I finally got permission to do trapping now called "natural regulation." Debate never assigned anybody. Nobody ever down at Yellowstone Lake inside the over what percentage of the bears relied gave any money, except Wyoming. Of park. I had to use psychology .. .I went to upon the dumps and the size of the course, the Fish and Wildlife Service did Glen and [park superintendentfrom 1967 ecosystem's grizzly population ultimately support their person, and the park and the to 1975] JackAnderson and said, "we've led to a National Academy of Science Forest Service did. After Joe Basile left got these bears down there and I don't Winter 1998 3 know where they come from and what they do; the Craigheads didn't know any­ thing about this." And they said, "Oh, the Craigheads didn't, eh? Well, maybe we should put a couple of radios on." So that's the way it went. Every time I wanted to tag some bears, I'd write up a special project proposal. It took about five years, until about 1977, before we finally got a widespread trapping effort started. YS: In 1975, when the grizzly was listed, the politics were rampant. Were the bears biologically endangered in your view? DK: They probably were, but I didn't know it at that time. In 1974, when we first started talking about it, I said, "I haven't got any data to show one way or another whether they're threatened or not." Nat Reed got a little angry with me because of it, but hell, I couldn't tag, had an 83 percent success rate at trans­ bears. And he thought they were there. where was I supposed to get the data? planting bears. Well, we've never had Were there grizzly bears in the Tetons the But they listed them anyhow; it was done that. You get an adult bear, it's pretty hard whole time? strictly on politics. to move them far enough to where they DK: I think there were a few, not very YS: Did you have any notion that list­ don't come back. The only two adult many. Up around Berry Creek, in the ing-not the process of listing, but the bears we've moved successfully went to northern end of Grand Teton National fact that the bears were listed-would be Canada. Park, there have always been grizzly as complicated as it is? YS: Did you work outside the park much· bears. But they're adventurous and they DK: No, I don't think anybody did. It was in those days, and did you see bears in move around, especially in a bad food all new-the Endangered Species Act was Idaho, and in the Big Sky area of Mon­ year. new; it was a great thing. tana-places where they are thought to YS: We hear a lot today about a change YS: Did you have access to the be expanding today? in distribution of grizzlies, as well as an Craigheads' data when you first started? DK: Occasionally you'd get one in increase in bears. We sometimes even get DK: No. Well, I had all of their reports; Idaho .. .in the early 1970s we had one in told that we don't have more bears, they had publications, such as the one the Yellow Mules, and in Buck Creek, they're just all leaving the park. they came out with in 1974. northwest of the park, but we weren't DK: Well, none of the radioed bears have YS: Were the Craigheads right or wrong? doing a lot of work over there. In Cabin left the park. We just have a big increase DK: Well, they weren't all right, and they Creek [also on the Gallatin National For­ in bears in Wyoming-that's where weren't all wrong, either. By phasing the est] we did a lot of work, and we had a they're going, that's where they've got dumps out slowly, I believe it would just lot of bears in that area, which we don't the habitat. And Wyoming is really inter­ have caused more bears to learn to eat at have anymore. ested in bear management. We've lost dumps over a longer period of time, then YS: What do you suppose happened to bears on the west side [of the park], I they'd be fighting over what was avail­ them? think. able at the dumps-decreasing amounts DK: People. YS: I remember the trappers taking griz­ of food. It wouldn't have done the bear YS: People shooting? People just living? zlies off of domestic sheep grazing allot­ population any good. So I think that clos­ DK: We hear rumors about people who ments on the west side of the Tetons. ing the dumps abruptly was the way to have shot bears up there, but then it's just Wasn't there quite a controversy when do it. But that had a traumatic effect on a pretty popular spot; a lot of people go the Forest Service tried to eliminate sheep the bear population, and the Park Service through there. allotments? did not foresee all of what was going to YS: When I first came to Yellowstone in DK: We were really involved in that. The happen. They should have had a big 1982, I'd hear "there aren't any grizzlies Gallatin and Targhee [national forests ad­ campground management and bear man­ in the Tetons, it's safer to camp there, jacent to Yellowstone] supervisors just agement program in place before they did safer to hike." A friend of mine was a re­ didn't want to believe that grizzly bears it; a lot of bears just disappeared during source manager, and in 1986 he was pull­ and sheep couldn't coexist. But we got that time. They weren't necessarily killed, ing in non-bear-proof garbage cans at the allotments out. but they were transplanted and never night from around the park housing area, YS: So sheep and grizzly bears are truly came back. Glen told me that bears would because even the staff had the attitude that incompatible? come into the campgrounds, and that they they didn't have to deal with grizzly DK: Well, it's the herders that are incom- 4 Yellowstone Science DK: We had a lot of the rangers talk it YS: So sheep and grizzly bears are truly incompatible? over. They were some of the areas where DK: Well, it's the herders that are.jncompatible; grizzly bears we knew we had pretty good concentra­ really like sheep! tions of bears, and those were the ones in which we restricted human use during specific times or areas-places like the patible; grizzly bears really like sheep! were. With saturation trapping, you could Gallatin Range. It's one of our best cub­ YS: Early on, were you concerned about get a whole lot of data at once, which producing areas, and I was really ada­ the levels of bear mortalities, either by would have been good. But you've still mant about getting that closed to off-trail park managers or by hunters? They were got 9,000 square miles of mountainous traffic. People are still trying to get that still legally hunting bears outside the park terrain to deal with, and where are you opened back up. We took a field trip until 1975, when the bear was listed .. going to trap? You 're not going to find through there in 1993 or '94, a couple of DK: I didn't know; you couldn't be con­ the money; it's a great dream. Even now park rangers and an outfitter and I, and cerned about mortality cause you didn't with the DNA sampling, you can't put we showed them what we were talking know what the size of the population was. that many baits out. And there weren't about. The wildlife there are different. We were removing bears inside the park that many people working on bears at that When you see a couple thousand elk run­ when they got into trouble, because we time. We had five or six experienced bear ning away from you, in obvious panic, it didn'tknow any better. It had to be done. trappers, maybe, in the U.S., and they makes a big impression. It wasn't until about 1980 that we had a were working for other people; they had Antelope Creek was an area that at the suspicion that we didn't have as many jobs of their own. Saturation trapping just time didn't have a lot of bears but had a bears as we'd thought. By 1982, I had wasn't feasible. lot of people use, and it was an area we the data to show it. YS: Then it became a big debate about thought we could close off-that was the YS: What's the story behind the famous how many female grizzlies you would most successful thing we've ever done, "Ro Wauer" memo? [Ed. note: Wauer, a trap and radio collar. that closure. Now it's a place people can biologist froi:n the NPS's Washington Of­ DK: That was the IGBC. It was 1983 go and see bears, and it wasn't that way fice, wrote a 1nemo about the grizzlies' when it began-that was the end of the before the park closed it. declining population which prompted Steering Committee-and IGBC took YS: Some of the debate over grizzly bear high-level concern and resulted in the responsibility for all the bears in all eco­ management through the years has been agencies banding together to create the systems. There used to be an argument about whether science and management 1nteragency Grizzly Bear Committee about how many bears we should trap. were separate enough, or worked closely (1GBC), which still operates today.] For a while they'd say, only trap females, together enough. One of the criticisms DK: I was talking to John Townsley [park so we'd only trap females and let the from the Craighead days was that when superintendent from 1975to1982]; he'd males go, but the next thing you know, the scientists were doing bear manage­ been listening to me since 1980, but no­ they'd want me to make a population es­ ment, too, it affected their objectivity as body else really was-it was just like the timate. And I would say, "Well, you know, data collectors and analyzers. Do you bear wasn't listed ... We had enough data a population estimate includes males, and think that was true of you? to show we had a declining population. so we'd better start trapping males." DK: No, I don't think so. I wasn't doing And I went to Ro and said, "Look, we're Pretty soon, they let us scientists go our bear management; I was advising. We at going downhill fast and we've got to do own way, and we did as much as we the IGBST have always worked closely something." And I gave him all the stuff, could; that's what we've always done­ with the managers, especially the park. and he wrote that memo to the Steering as much as we can with the money we've Some outside scientists think that when Committee and leaked it to the press, and got. a publication would come out, the man­ got transferred to the Virgin Islands for YS: Were you involved in the park's ef­ agers would have the data. I thought they it! He was probably happy about it. But fort that started about that same time, probably should have access to this stuff the upshot was, they created the IGBC, perhaps because of the memo, to write as soon as you've got it. The quicker you and the land managers started taking griz­ the Grizzly Bear Management Plan? In use it, the better off you're going to be. I zly bear management seriously, specifi­ the paper trail, that's the first time we think that's been one of the big things cally by targeting adult female mortal­ clearly said we have to limit bear mor­ that's been successful for the grizzly bear ity, really all mortalities. talities, and we've got to get serious about in Yellowstone-the fact that research YS: When the bear population was at a some other things. We set up the bear and management worked closely to­ low point, I remember a huge debate over management areas, called "human use gether. "saturation trapping" versus sampling. adjustment areas" at the time, until Bob YS: Were you involved at all in the hu­ Can you explain the alternatives we were Barbee [park superintendent from 1983 man fatalities caused by grizzlies, and did talking about and which you would have to 1994] kept telling me to quit using that it surprise you when it happened? preferred to do? term; it just didn't sell well. What was DK: Well, in some of them, I was in­ DK: Sampling was going along the way the rationale behind the bear management volved. It's always shocking when that we were, getting data at the same rate we areas? happens, and in most cases, there's area- Winter 1998 5 son for it. But some of them, like Brigitta Fredenhagen in Pelican Valley in 1984 and the guy over in West Yellowstone [William Robert May in 1982] ... boy, those were just unexplained; these were people that did everything right as far as we could tell. Some bears are just like that. YS: You trapped how many bears in 20 years? DK: We're at 289 or something. YS: Were you ever in a situation where you thought your life was threatened by a bear? DK: Well, with bear #25, which I had to kill. It was in 1977 over at Mack's Inn, in are a very interesting animal; they're YS: In the 1970s, greater Yellowstone was willows along the Henry's Fork at Island more fun to watch that an elk, or a deer, characterized as poor grizzly habitat. Do Park, Idaho, where many people were because they do have so many different you still think that's the case? fishing. She had two cubs-of-the-year. kinds of mannerisms. And you never DK: No, I don't think so. I think we Somebody living there shot her in the rear know what one's going to do next. thought it was poor because when you "in self-defense"-she was eating food There's an occasional bad apple, just like start looking at the lodgepole pine desert, on the porch-and also shot one of the there are people-but there's probably so to speak, there's a lot of the ecosys­ "monster" 40-pound cubs. We knew she fewer of them among the grizzly bear tem that isn't very productive as far as was wounded so we had to go check and population, so to speak, than among bear foods are concerned. But at times, it see how badly, and see whether or not people! has a great mushroom crop and other we could just leave her there, or what. They're just trying to go their way and things. Bears work mostly on nticrohabi­ Boy, she turned out to be not only fairly mind their own business, except that tats, and so there's always a bunch oflittle badly wounded, shot bad in the hindquar­ when it comes to food, that's a very big nticrohabitats in places, even in all that ter, but also pretty feisty. We were only part of their business. And if you've got lodgepole, so they can find something to about 15 to 20 feet away and she just got some, they'll want it! That's all. Once eat. Bears are learning more all the time up and charged us, and we didn't have you understand, I don't think they're any how to use this habitat. any choice. You can tell a bear that's com­ more dangerous than any other animal. YS: Was it partly a matter of our learn­ ing for you as against one that's bluffing YS: One time you told me, maybe a ing, too? Did we think that bears ate ber­ you-in the same way you can tell a dog dozen years ago, that about the time you ries, because that's what they were seen that'll do the same thing. You can tell if think you 're ready to generalize about the to do in other places, so we assumed that they mean business or not, and this bear grizzly bear, well, just wait until the next not having many berries made it poor was not bluffing. When they grunt like a summer and they'll turn around and do habitat? pig, that's time to watch out, because their something entirely different. They must DK: Sure. I think a lot of their food hab­ exertion means they are out to get you. be very versatile. its were characterized from other places, YS: Dick, a number of people have said DK: That's right. And it's still true. They and they'll eat almost anything. that this project-your project-has the are very, very versatile. And they keep YS: So, when one of our critics says we best database on brown bears in the learning new tricks every year; we ought to get rid of all the elk so we can world. That presumes that you know the haven't seen them all yet. We've never grow more berry bushes, how would you most about them of anybody in the world. had a year that was just like any other respond to that? How would you characterize your study year, they're all a little bit different. All DK: I'd say that elk are a much better object? After looking at them for all these of a sudden the bears will come up with source of forage than berries. And the many years, what are they like? some new food item that they'll eat. And berries that would come back if all the DK: Well ... they're just out there trying we've got some food items out there that elk were gone are not the kind of berries to make a living, like anybody else. They they apparently haven't discovered yet. that bears eat anyway-snowberries, I mean. A snowberry is probably some of the stuff that elk are eating out; that prob­ "You can tell a bear that's coming for you as against one that's ably hurts grouse but it doesn't bother bluffing you-in the same way you can tell a dog that'll do the bears any, because the elk are much bet­ same thing. You cau tell if they mean business or uot, and this ter eating. bear was not bluffing. When they grunt like a pig, that's time to YS: I remember you saying that in the early 1980s you had seen grizzly bears watch out, because their exertion means they are out get you." to stalk elk for the first time. Do you think 6 Yellowstone Science dammed up, then the bears can get them. even under the Endangered Species Act. It takes a little bit of learning, but once You get an administrator who wants to. they get it, they're really good at it. get around a law, and he'll do it. YS: Are you optimistic or pessimistic for YS: If you were talking to the park su­ the future of grizzly bears? perintendent right now, parting words on DK: Sometimes I think they'll be around your retirement, what would you tell him when we have overpopulated the earth. to do or not do on behalf of bears? But I don't know, the way this country is DK: Just hold on. Hold on with bear going, the way it's developing ... management areas and keep develop­ YS: We hear a lot of concern over global ments down. Watch your garbage and warming and blister rust that will take out indoctrinate new employees about the whitebark pine. What about other bears-somebody new moves in, you threats like the lake trout and increasing start all over again. development across the ecosystem? YS: Is the big challenge more related to DK: I think the worst I've heard for glo­ the bears' habitat than the population it­ bal warming is about a 5° shift, but that self, in the next 25 years of grizzly bear is not that much. Besides, you can't for­ management? get, we used to have grizzly bears in DK: As far as managing habitat, what can Mexico and Arizona and New Mexico, you do? If you can keep the roads out, too. I think climate change is going to be that is the key. Access is a big thing, ac­ gradual and the bears will adjust to it, if cess and human development, encroach­ that was just part of your learning curve, it's going to happen. That's going to be ment on habitat. or is there something to the notion that one of the things they have to cope with. YS: A lot of people think that greater bears had forgotten a lot of natural foods Of course, they cope with no whitebark Yellowstone will never be big enough, in the days of the garbage dumps? pine every now and then anyhow. So, it's and that the lack of connectivity to an­ DK: I think they had, for at least sum­ just like every year is going to be a poor other bear population is a concern geneti­ mertime. But for a while, we think the year, and they'd probably adjust. Now cally or demographically. What do you only time they ever killed elk was when they've got the moths they can go on. think about that? they were calves or during the rut, when As far as lake trout are concerned, if DK: I'm not concerned about genetic iso­ bulls were really easy to catch. Then, they do cut into the cutthroat spawners lation. It's another field where you've got sometime in the early 1980s they did start significantly, well, that's going to cut into all kinds of different experts arguing at catching elk cows, in the middle of the a food source, but then on the other hand, all .times. But we're talking 100, 200 summer. I can't remember which bear it not all the bears in the park are fishing years. Is the human race, civilization as was-bear #51, one of our big males­ bears, either. There are other things to do. we know it, going to be around that long? killed 13 cow elk one summer. He had a YS: Do you think the bears can be I'm not going to worry about 100 years real ambush for them. Had a good time. "delisted" from Endangered Species Act from here, because who knows what will YS: Don't we have some that go after bull protection? happen in that time. moose in the same way? DK: What I like to say is that I think the As long as we can hold on to DK: Oh yeah. Moose aren't that much bear is recovered in Yellowstone Park and Yellowstone Park and those wilderness different than an elk, as far as a bear is Wyoming, and probably endangered in areas, we've got one of the best chances concerned. Montana, and extinct in Idaho. That's the of anyplace in the world to hold on to YS: Are bears individuals the way we treat way it is, with the development in grizzlies. We ate in a lot better position human beings as individuals? You de­ Montana ... except for the Absarokas and than the NCDE [the Northern Continen­ scribe an elk predation specialist. I pre­ north, it's really tough to see how bears tal Divide Ecosystem in northwestern sume there's all different kinds of spe­ are going to make it there. In W}roming, Montana] where everything is broken up cialists. How do they discover new I think they've definitely got a huntable by all kinds of roads and people devel­ things? population. But it's too bad that delisting opment. We've got a big chunk of habi­ DK: I think they've learned by watching removes all the protection of the Endan­ tat -that's pretty much protected down other bears. Like fishing-it's something gered Species Act. I can imagine people here, and we've got one of the best shots that's got to be learned; they don't just out there with chain saws and herds of of anyplace in the world, outside of know how to fish. It's kind of funny. If sheep ready to move in when the bear Alaska. you watch a bear that doesn't know how, population is delisted, and that scares me. YS: Do you see in the future real poten­ they can see the fish and just jump right Because I don't know how to protect tial for use of such techniques as DNA in with all four feet and come up empty. habitat. We just don't know. You can write analysis to help estimate a population or Then they go digging under the banks, some laws, but hell, we couldn't protect tell us other useful things? and it jusi doesn't work. When they get the Targhee from widespread clear-cut­ DK: Sure, it's going to help us explain a the fish crowded, and the stream sort of ting and road-building in grizzly habitat, lot. Whether we ever get to the point Winter 1998 7 where we are going to distantly make a population estimate out of it, I don't " ... sometimes I think they'll be around when we have over­ know, because the logistics of getting the populated the earth. But I don't know, the way this country is samples is so great, but small portions of going, the way it's developing ... we're talking 100, 200 years. Is the population we could do. the human race, civilization as we know it, going to be around It would get us lineage-this bear was that long? ... related to that other bear that did that; okay, that explains that. Some of these As long as we can hold on to Yellowstone Park and those wil­ things would be interesting; I don't know derness areas, we've got one of the best chances of anyplace in whether they would be particularly use­ the world to hold on to grizzlies. We've got a big chunk of habi­ ful to management or not. tat that's pretty much protected down here, and we've got one of YS: Dick, I remember when the satellites the best shots of anyplace in the world, outside of Alaska." were going to tell you everything you needed to know about grizzly bears and were going to count them. the thing that's made it work is the coop­ YS: So what should your replacement be DK: Well, Nat Reed was an ex-U2 pilot eration among the agencies. well steeped in? and he knew you could see things from YS: And this has resulted in tangible DK: Getting along with people. Or at 90,000 feet in the air. And Steve Mealey, benefits to bears? least, dealing with people. You don't es­ who was working for me at that time, was DK: Yeah, I think so, definitely. Like the pecially have to get along with them, but an ex-intelligence officer with General IGBC. Everybody's working under the you do have to deal with bureaucrats, Westmoreland in Vietnam. He knew same rules for mortalities, and coopera­ politicians ... The first five years were those bears could be seen if they could tion in transplanting bears. pretty tough, but I can look back and see the Vietcong from the air, though a YS: Is that telling about the wildlife man­ laugh now. On the whole, it's been a fairly lot of the guys that were on the ground agement business, that the highlight of enjoyable experience, a lot of fun. would disagree with him! I know these your long career here would be some­ YS: Do you think we have as many or things could be done, but I didn't think thing that has to do with people? more bears now as we had in the 1960s? we'd get the military to do it for us. What DK: That's what wildlife management is DK: I think there are more bears than in the military can do and what we can do all about. The animals get along pretty the 1960s. We've definitely got them scat­ are two different things. We hired an air well. We go our way and manage this and tered around in Wyoming and in the park. service out of Salt Lake City to take some manage that, and the animals go their way YS: And we don't need to go back to pictures, and I thought, it's gonna be hard and survive the best they can. feeding them? Can you ever see circum­ to tell from the air, a long ways in the air, YS: Maybe wildlife management ought stances when we might? what you've got down there-there are a to be populated with sociologists and DK: No, I don't see that. We're trying to lot of bison, and I think they'd be hard to psychologists and political scientists in­ keep things as natural as we can. And tell from bears. We put bear pelts out in stead of biologists. Do you think profes­ these ungulates are a big food source, Pelican Valley, and we did have one griz­ sors are teaching that to wildlife manage­ especially the elk, for bears. Especially zly, over by Mary Bay, I think, that came ment students? Did you, when you were in the early spring, the "overpopulation," out of the woods and sniffed the teaching? so to speak, of elk that die and are so weak hide ... "Who was this?" DK: No. You look at what happens out in that they can't get away, are a big food The whole damn thing just flopped, the field, and what you teach in the class­ source. No other bear population I know like I knew it would. We could have spent room, and you begin to wonder, what am of has that particular food source. It's im- , that money on something useful. It was a I doing? A lot of the stuff you teach them portant to this group of bears. really expensive little charade. is obsolete. It's different now, you're talk­ YS: Do you ever see yourself writing the YS: When you look back at all your years ing about computers and statisticians; book on grizzlies or your life with them? of being in charge of the IGBST, what that's all you see in the Journal of Wild­ You've laid low compared to a lot of the are your high moments? life Management-it has very little to do personalities that deal with endangered DK: Just getting the data. I think the thing with animals. species. I'm most proud of is getting the agen­ YS: Nowadays, whether the schools de­ DK: I just don't have that kind of per­ cies to cooperate with each other on bear liberately do this or the market does it, sonality. I'm not without an ego, but I management. Before that, Yellowstone we've developed a cadre of ''bear biolo­ don't have the kind that wants to write a Park would do one thing, Grand Teton gists," and ''wolf biologists," and "fish book. And I'm tired of writing. I told another-they might have been on dif­ biologists." Are there more specialists Bonnie, [Blanchard, his wife and co­ ferent planets. And every forest did things today? worker, who also left the IGBSTin 1997], a different way ... everybody was fighting DK: It may be. I always felt that a wild­ when I retire, the checks are deposited­ with everybody, and of course, the states life or fisheries biologist should be an she has a checkbook; I'm not even going never got along with each other anyhow. ecologist. And the principles are pretty to write my name! But then, they had to come together, and much the same for fish and animals. YS: You haven't always secretly thought, 8 Yellowstone Science was productive. YS: Did other individual bears stand out, like the bear that disappeared for 20 years and then reappeared? DK: That was a bear that we caught as a yearling over in Cabin Creek and just ear­ tagged her; we couldn't put collars on then. About 20 years later we picked her up at Indian Creek. She'd beeri around all that time. We had another one that was killed over in Wyoming, in Mormon Creek. She had two cubs we ear-tagged and transplanted up in the south Absarokas, and we saw them the next year. We didn't see them for 17-18 years and then caught one down at Open Creek. YS: Put yourself in the mindset of think­ Grizzly bear sow feeding on a five-point bull elk carcass. ing you were just starting today and de­ signing what you'd like to do in the next ten or twenty years. Would there be new I'm going to write the expose when I'm grabbed the bait, and he ambled over and and different things you'd suggest people retired and don't work for the government took the rest of it and ran for the woods. research? Unanswered questions that anymore-"kiss and tell?" I finished setting the trap and thought, you'd like to know about a grizzly bear, DK: No. I really have some strong feel­ boy, we'll have him in the morning! Nah, if you had more time and an unlimited ings about some of the things that hap­ we caught some other little bear. We budget? pened to mein the early times, and! don't trapped several days in a row. Old Red, DK: There are all kinds of things that I have a very objective view ofit, so I prob­ we never did catch him. We see him from would like to know that you're never ably shouldn't write about it. the air now and then; he's still out there, going to get money for and nobody is YS: That hasn't stopped lots of authors at least as of a couple years ago. He's a interested in studying-like moths. Bears from writing! big, big bear, one of the biggest bears feed on moths in high-elevation sites. DK: I know. If I ever wrote a book, I'd we've got around. Everybody wants to work on bears, but like to write about "Bears I Have YS: I'd like to go back and find some of what is the life cycle of the moths? Where Known"-just about fun bears; there bear #38's progeny. She was the bear that do those moths come from? have been a lot of those. was purported to do everything-she A lot of other supposedly insignificant The one bear I liked, we call "Big was, as I recall, the most productive bear species are kind of important to bears, Red." We never were able to trap him. in the ecosystem at that time. and it'd be nice to know more about them. He was in the Gallatins; the first time I DK: Bear #38 lived over north of West Why don't bears eat camas roots? Maybe ever saw him was on Fawn Pass. You Yellowstone, right where they want to put they just haven't discovered them yet. could see him 'cause he was really red­ the golf course [laughs], in the Fir Ridge And melica bulbs-we've. got fields of dish, his coat. We had a trap set up south area. She was really a good bear. Horse melica bulbs out there, and the bears get of the pass in the meadow, and we used Butte and Cabin Creek, that was her area. them in pocket gopher caches, but they to pre-bait him. After about three times, One year, it was a great huckleberry year; don't dig up melica bulbs. I had my here comes Old Red zooming out of the I myself could smell the huckleberries at troops go down and dig carnas bulbs and trees-the food plate is here! We did that Two Top from Fir Ridge (and I was still melica bulbs, big bunches of them, and a couple of times. Bonnie and I went up smoking at that time.) She ended up tak­ we sent them over to Charles Robbins there to start trapping, and we got the ing her two kids over there to Two Top; [professor of.animal nutrition at Wash­ horses, and the bait was all on the ground. I'm sure they went over there for the ber­ ington State University], and his bears I was in the trap putting the trigger bait ries-but what did they find? Sheep! And just gulped them right down. Maybe it's on, and Bonnie says "here comes a bear!" it was great; they'd never had sheep be­ something they haven't learned yet. And So I came out of the trap and here comes fore. But they did learn in a hurry, and ladybug beetles-in other places those Old Red, just ambling by-it's time he's we finally had to catch her and the kids, are a big deal. We've got them in the park, going to have lunch. I shot a couple of and she died on the way out. While she but bears haven't discovered where they times in the air. Bonnie said, "Let's get was tranquilized, her collar cut off the congregate. out of here." The horses were skittish, and windpipe. That was a bad deal. I really like bears. I think there should I got on my horse, but then I said, "He's The first litter we knew she had was be a little bit unknown, a mystery about got all our trigger bait! All our bacon!" three cubs, and the next one was two, and them, too. And so I ran back and I charged him, and she had another one before that, too; she "ft Winter 1998 9 Hidden Biodiversity The Benefits of Large Rotting Carcasses to Beetles and Other Species

Photo courtesy of Derek Sikes. by Derek S. Sikes

One late summer day in 1993, I was in keystones were to disappear. Large mam­ feet megafaunal carcass communities the Lamar Valley as an alpine thunder­ mal herds are obviously a significant have on the ecosystem of the Lamar by storm swept down toward me from the component of the Yellowstone ecosys­ measuring changes in the beetle commu­ Absarokas. Like many other researchers, tem. They consume large quantities of nities associated with them. Beetles are I was in Yellowstone because of my in­ vegetation, produce large quantities of an especially diverse group of organisms terest in its charismatic megafauna-its dung and carrion, and cause researchers and megafaunal carcasses are some of the herds of elk and bison. But the three­ to generate large quantities of data on largest, and in my opinion, the most ex­ month-old bison beside which I knelt was mammalian ecology, behavior, and citing communities of ecological sys­ a carcass, little more than bones and yet physiology. Although we may know what tems. It's possible that some of the same teeming with life. As a graduate student these animals eat, we know very little beetle species that I encountered during at Montana State University, I had cho­ about what eats them. my study could have been found on a sen for my master's thesis the task of de­ How many species are linked to the mastodon or glyptodont carcass 20,000 scribing beetles, a large portion of the megafauna found in the Lamar? We can years ago. Although such speculation was Lamar Valley megafaunal food web. This list the 10 or so species of vertebrates that beyond the scope of my research, by project was based on two field seasons feed on ungulates there, but what about studying the beetles of the carrion com­ of .data gathering, 1978 and 1993, and the hundreds of invertebrates? A com­ munity I could at least investigate a large was completed in late 1994. plete list, you may be surprised to learn, portion of the species linked to When considering all the species that would .take years of research to finish. Yellowstone's current megafauna and a constitute an ecosystem, it appears that Conducting such research would improve largely unknown component of North some act as hubs of biodiversity, and have our understanding of the Lamar Valley American megafaunal biology. a disproportionate impact on the ecosystem by identifying some of the ecosystem's structure and functioning. players. Managers of the Yellowstone Why Study Beetles? Ecologists refer to these as keystone spe­ ecosystem are interested in maintaining cies. I like to think of them as represent­ native biodiversity, so it is important to The background for my thesis research atives for hidden biodiversity-for the understand the values of having large began in 1978, when there was a large myriad often poorly known species rotting carcasses lying about. winter die-off of elk on Yellowstone's whose abundances would change if the My objective was to determine the ef- northern range. Dr. Robert Moore of

10 Yellowstone Science Montana State University initiated a of exploring, discovering, and describ­ Nature's Clean-Up Crews project to understand the arthropod fauna ing before the job will be complete! associated with elk carcasses by sinking Beetles feed on virtually everything My study focused on decomposition cups into the ground (called pitfall traps) and live virtually everywhere, from the ecology, nature's clean-up crews. The around the carcasses to catch arthropods bottom of!akes to the tops of trees, feed­ decomposers, known as detritivores, for later identification. He also set con­ ing on fungi, rotting wood, living wood, channel more energy flowing through trol traps 40 meters from the carcasses to living vertebrates, leaves, stems, seeds, ecosystems than do herbivores and preda­ compare the carrion-associated pollen, arthropods, dung, and, of course, tors (Fig. 1). This makes sense when you arthropods with those of the background carrion. Some species are generalists and consider that the decomposers consume habitat and to quantify the degree of as­ feed on a wide variety of resources, while all the dead plants, dead herbivores, dead sociation between beetle species and the others have a strict diet, often specializ­ predators and all of their wastes-that's carrion. ing on a single species of plant or ani­ a lot of consumption! Yet little research My advisor, Dr. Michael Ivie, has been mal. Because of this ecological diversity, has been done on decomposition ecology conducting a larger but similar study us­ beetles are proving to be excellent indi­ in comparison to herbivore and predator ing more than 800 beetle species to as­ cators of environmental change. Mike ecology. sess the effects of the 1988 fires in Gla­ Ivie has stated it nicely: "It's almost im­ The grass emerging from beneath the cier National Park. Beetles are frequently possible for an ecosystem to be disturbed bison carcass before me was both taller chosen as a focus of study because of and not have an effect on the beetles that and greener than that surrounding it. The their enormous numbers and diversity. are in it." most obvious life-form using the energy Beetles are the largest order of life on The combined influence of Dr. stored within the remains of the bison was Earth, outnumbering in described species Moore's.initiative, my advisor's support, the immature form of Thanatophilus even nematodes, bacteria, and the entire and my fascination with beetles led to my lapponicus, the northern carrion beetle. plant kingdom, and include one-third of predicament that summer day-the storm These small, six-legged creatures, pro­ all animal species that have been de­ and its lightning were approaching, and tected by an exoskeleton composed of scribed on our planet. Coleopterists have it had begun to get dark. I carefully chitinous armor plates, were visible on named between 350,000 and 400,000 poured the trapping preservative through every portion of the bison remains. As I beetle species since 1758, at an average a filter to extract the beetle specimens, knelt there collecting a sample of organ­ of about 2,300 new species each year trying not to spill any in my anxious isms that had blundered into the four pit­ during the last decade. However, that is haste. I knew grizzly bears commonly fed fall traps placed around the carcass, I only a small portion of the recent esti­ on carrion and was little comforted by thought abont bison and the connectiv­ mates, based on studies conducted in the either the anti-bear pepper spray in my ity of life. What percentage of tropics, of perhaps as many as 2.4 mil­ pocket or the words of my advisor: "You Yellowstone's bison biomass is annually lion beetle species that may occur on must label your specimens promptly; that converted into beetle biomass? How Earth. At the current rate of description, way, if you die, you will not compromise many visitors or rangers realize that the coleopterists will need another 870 years their scientific value." molecules that make up a beetle they see

Figure 1. Energy flow Sunlight through a typical terrestrial -1- ecosystem. The darkened areas represent death Photosynthetic organisms (necromass) and waste products, all of which are processed by the detritivores.

c 0 ------·a.~ Heat gJ a:

Winter 1998 11 may have recently been part of a bison? Douglas B. Houston, a researcher fa­ miliar with the northern range of Yellowstone, found that during a period of three winters (1974-1978), about 75 to 80 percent of the total necromass (be­ tween 19,000 and 35,000 kg [77,161 lbs.] of meat) from 1,084 elk carcasses was eaten by vertebrate scavengers: coy­ otes, bears, and birds. Ten bird species (ravens, black-billed magpies, golden eagles, bald eagles, chipping sparrows, Audubon's warblers, western tanagers, mountain bluebirds, robins, and Brewer's blackbirds) were observed to feed on ungulate carcasses or the insects associ­ ated with them. These vertebrate scav­ engers, although consuming the major­ ity of the necromass, are only the tip of Winterkilled bull elk. the species-diversity iceberg. The major­ ity of the diversity, perhaps as great as 90 percent, is composed of organisms that extreme opposite end of the spectrum; movie Alien: the female adults pierce the are often overlooked due to their small those few carcasses that were available skin of living fly larvae (maggots) and size. It was this hidden biodiversity on had been stripped to bones within a week. deposit their eggs within the larval tis­ which I focused my research. Somehow I found one elk carcass and one bison sues, where they quickly hatch into beetle these seemingly barren bones in front of carcass. From the beetles collected dur­ larvae (grubs) that slowly consume the me were producing pounds of beetle lar­ ing these two seasons, I counted and iden­ living maggot from the inside out, even­ vae-and I was capturing only those that tified a total of 23,365 adults of 445 spe­ tually causing its death. Also common in fell into my traps. cies. Of the 445 species, there were 385 the carcass samples were beetles of the As it turned out, I completed the col­ that were part of the quantitative data set family Ptiliidae that are so small (less than lection rounds, got very wet from the and were thus available for statistical 2 mm long [0.08 inches]) that they are storm, heard some of the loudest thun­ analysis. These were used to detennine thought to feed on fungal spores and der in my life, and later successfully the effect of carcasses on beetle commu­ other microscopic organic matter. changed the numerous small beetles, nities. Of the 385 species, 37 were I was puzzled by the abundance of an carefully stored and labeled, into one strongly associated with carcasses in herbivorous weevil species, sample period of thesis data. Each sample 1978 (Table 1), and 42 were strongly as­ Otiorhynchus ovatus (the strawberry root represented the catch of one trap, active sociated with carcasses in 1993. When weevil, introduced from Europe), in the for one period (ca. seven days). In total both years' data were combined there carcass traps. Could the great flush of there was an effort of 194 days of trap­ were 57 carcass-associated beetle spe­ nitrogenous compounds leeched from the ping and the equivalent of 6,832 trap­ cies. Eleven species were strongly asso­ carcasses that fertilized the surrounding days (one trap-day = one trap open for ciated with the control traps (apparently plants have increased the survivorship of one day). Along with many other sample avoiding the carcasses), and 317 species this weevil's larvae at the site? Or per­ periods, including Dr. Moore's 1978 data, showed no preference. haps the abundance was a result of the these data were subjected to statistical Thanatophilus lapponicus was the higher humidity of the microhabitat, or a tests and analyses to quantitatively de­ most common beetle in my samples, but combination of both factors. Such an scribe some of the puzzle pieces of the it was only 1 of 57 species found in asso­ explanation doesn't require the weevil to Lamar Valley carrion community. ciation with carcasses that can be con­ prefer carcasses-the observations of sidered the core of the Lamar Valley car­ abundance may have simply resulted Carrion Beetles' Abundance and rion-associated beetle community. How­ from the fact that more individuals sur­ Diversity ever, not all of these species feed directly vive on carcasses than elsewhere. It on carrion; the adults of many species would be a remarkable discovery if it In Dr. Moore's 1978 field season, six prey on other arthropods. One such spe­ could be shown that this plant-feeding elk carcasses were studied. Because of cies, Aleochara verna, is a type of preda­ weevil 'does actively choose carcass sites that winter's large die-off, the scavenger tor called a "parasitoid" that is not found for breeding-an unlikely but interesting community had been sated and the car­ among vertebrate species. It has an un­ hypothesis because, to my knowledge, casses lay virtually intact throughout the usual life cycle that strongly resembles none of the 60,000 known species of summer. In 1993, conditions were at the that of the monster in the science fiction weevils are carrion-associated. 12 Yellowstone Science Table I. Carcass associated beetle species, 1978. Total abundances of 37 beetle species. The P-value represents the likelihood of obtaining such results if there were no differences between the carcass and control traps (i.e., if carcasses did not affect the beetle's behavior).

Thanatophilus lapponicus (Hbst) 467* 1 360.0 0.000 Dennestes talpinus Mannerheim 144* 2 106.4 0.000 Anaspis rufa Say 188 18 102.5 0.000 Creophilus maxillosus (L.) 129* 0 100.0 0.000 Saprinus oregonensis LeConte 133* 2 97.9 0.000 Ptiliid sp. 4 126* 5 84.8 0.000 Trachypachus holmbergi Mann. 201 33 83.4 0.000 Omaliinae sp. 8 84* 0 65.3 0.000 Catops basiliaris Say 78 1 57.9 0.000 Trax sonorae LeConte 70* 0 54.4 0.000 Notoxus serratus LeConte 70 1 51.7 0.000 Necrobia violacea L. 58* 0 45.1 0.000 Staphylinidae sp. 65 66* 3 43.5 0.000 Dermestes fasciatus LeConte 50* 1 36.1 0.000 Staphylinae sp. 7 46* 0 35.7 0.000 Otiorhynchus ovatus (L.) 213* 79 33.0 0.000 Aphodius fi1nentarius (L.) 42 0 32.6 0.000 Oxytelus sp. 18 37 0 28.7 0.000 Saprinus lugens Erichson 36* 0 28.0 0.000 Staphylinidae sp. 80 28 1 19.1 0.000 Staphylinae sp. 5 24* 0 18.6 0.000 Anchicera sp. 2 23* 0 17.9 0.000 Omosita inversa LeConte 20 0 15.5 0.000 Borboropora quadriceps (LeC.) 19* 0 14.8 0.000 Encimus mimus Fall 19* 0 14.8 0.000 Corticarina cavicollis (Mann.) 22* 1 14.5 0.000 Staphylinidae sp. 63 17 0 13.2 0.000 Staphylinae sp. 4 13* 0 10.1 0.001 Staphylinidae sp. 72 16 1 9.9 0.002 Anotylus sp. 17 10 0 7.8 0.005 · Tachinus basalts Erichson 9 0 7.0 0.008 Staphylinidae sp. 64 9 0 7.0 0.008 Cryptopleurunz minutum (Fab.) 8* 0 6.2 0.013 Syntomus americanus Dejean 14* 3 4.7 0.030 Xantholininae sp. 43 6 0 4.7 0.031 Apteroloma tenuicorne Leconte 25 9 4.1 0.043 Falagria dissecta Erichson 5* 0 3.9 0.049

* 22 of 37 species that were also found to be significantly associated with carcasses in 1993.

Another puzzling find was that certain burrows into the shoreline mud in which away (Fig. 3). For those who would ask beetle species common in the 1978 samp­ to rear their young. There were also "So what?" there are two reasons why ling were not found in 1993 at the same beetles about which virtually nothing was these findings are important. First, pre­ sites. This may have resulted from known, such as those in the family vious carrion ecology studies had not changes that occurred during the interim, Scraptiidae, that were shown to be car­ quantitatively described the strengths of such as those due to the 1988 fires, but I rion-associated. associations for the species studied. This cannot rule out other possibilities. Some novel and more rigorous approach has species do show tight association with Research Implications proven to be a powerful way to under­ particular sites. For example, a small rove stand these systems in great detail. The beetle (family Staphylinidae) in the ge­ I clearly demonstrated that a signifi­ second reason, perhaps of greater impor­ nus Bledius (Fig. 2) that occurs in saline cantly larger abundance and diversity of tance, is that to understand an environments was found only at a site beetles can be trapped adjacent to car­ ecosystem's biodiversity you must know near Trumpeter Lake; these beetles dig casses than are found 40 meters (131 feet) its components. Currently, we are famil- Winter 1998 13 Figure 2. Bledius carcasses (elk -7 carcass beetle -7 bear). susae. A close My own research showed that many pre­ relative of 1 4 the daceous beetles are attracted to these car­ 445 beetle species cass feeding frenzies, so the benefits of found in the Lamar the dead elk and bison in the park can be Valley. traced through many links of an as yet little-understood food web. The trickle­ down effects of dead ungulates are cer­ tainly greater than we currently recog­ nize. After all the parasites (ticks, lice, fleas, tapeworms, nematodes), dung-feeders iar with very few of the components of the richness, diversity, and ecological (beetles, flies, fungi), predators (wolves, the Lamar Valley megafaunal community. impact. bears, cougars), and carrion-community In 1994, ecologist Truman Young re­ It has been estimated that during the members have been identified we will be viewed the literature on large marumal Pleistocene, North America may have prepared to determine their roles in this die-offs applicable to wildlife conserva­ had densities of large marumals similar system in greater detail. Although to tion. (A die-off was defined as a rapid to those that can be found in the Serengeti many it is a strange concept, we may peak-to-trough decline of 25 percent or of modem day Africa, which would mean someday look at these large mammals more in estimated population numbers). that megafaunal carcasses were available from a different, more complete perspec­ According to Young's analysis, these in much greater numbers then. However, tive: that they are perfect habitat and re­ large die-offs should be considered a the Yellowstone ecosystem is probably as sources for the many other (mostly in­ natural part of the species' population close as any researcher can get to study­ vertebrate) species that together represent dynamics. Given the potential biomass ing the Pleistocene megafaunal ecology a greater portion of the total ecological and energy made available by a large ofNorthAmerica without conducting pa­ value of the mammals themselves. How mammal die-off, such as a 30 percent loss leontological research. much biodiversity would vanish if the in a herd of bison, it seems reasonable to If a complete ecological understand­ park lost its herds of megafauna? The assume that such die-offs would play a ing of the large mammal food web in the herds themselves are composed prima­ role in many aspects of ecosystem func­ Yellowstone ecosystem is to be achieved, rily of fewer than five species; however, tioning. No carrion study has directly the list of species that are linked to the I can name 57 beetle species that might compared a large die-off with the nor­ presence of these large animals needs to be greatly affected by such a loss. We mal background density of carrion input, be completed. Houston's 1978 observa­ must wait for future researchers to sup­ or compared the impact of large ver­ tions demonstrated that birds and bears ply the remaining hundreds of species' tebrate carcasses (> 50 kg [110 lbs.]) to were eating insect larvae from the skel­ names. that of small ones. However, a reason­ etal remains of elk carcasses, indicating able hypothesis would seem to be that the that the insects were a link in the chain Derek Sikes completed his master's greater the mass of carrion, the greater between vertebrate scavengers and the degree in Entomology at Montana State University in 1994. He is currently work­ ing toward a Ph.D. at the University of 350 Cl. Connecticut, revising the taxonomy of a --- carcass i="' 300 -e- control behaviorally unique group of carrion ~ OJ beetles-the burying beetles. His inter­ Cl. 250- est in detritivores sterns from undergradu­ OJ +o"' ate research he conducted on the natu­ OJ OJ 200 ral history ofa west coast species ofbury­ ID ing beetle during 1991. Derek's research 0 150 ~ interests combine aspects of ecology, sys­ OJ ..a tematics, and conservation biology. In E 100 ::J 1996, Derek fused research in these of­ z 50 ten disparate fields into a World-Wide­ Web site, based on research conducted 0 4 7 11 14 18 for the Connecticut Nature Conservancy (http ://vice ray. eeb. uconn. edulctb! Trap Period, 1993 home.html), which includes taxonomic, Figure 3. Distribution of beetle abundance over tilne, carcass and control trap ecological, and conservation information data from 1993. Note that the final abundance of the carcass trap data is 12.7 on Connecticut tiger beetles. beetles per trap and 5.8 beetles per trap for the control trap data. 14 Yellowstone Science Yellowstone's River Otters Enigmatic Water Weasels

by Nathan Varley

The charismatic river otter (Lontra August, 1997. Otters are, on the whole, Some observations were made opportu­ canadensis) is one of the most enigmatic difficult to locate. We commonly heard nistically during winter months. members of Yellowstone's fauna. Since park visitors relate their otter experiences Using standard methods to estimate otters have not been studied extensively and end with the assumption that because otter abundance, we measured the quan­ in the park, substantive questions exist they had seen them, otters were common. tity of otter presence through observation regarding the local population status and "Otters are everywhere," one person told of individuals or sign per survey distance. ecology of this amphibious species of the me. When otters were located, they were ob­ weasel family. Ranger and visitor reports Well, otters are everywhere, until one served with aid of 8-12x binoculars or a have confirmed the use of most major starts looking for them, and then they are 20x-60x spotting scope. Otter pups were lakes, rivers, and large streams in the park found in very few of the places one by otters, but their elusive nature has chooses to look. My approach was to made observation of these animals diffi­ search riparian corridors for otters or Above left: Mother otter rests her eyes cult. Blending the goals of cinema and signs of otters including tracks, slide as pup eats fish. Below: Author in Lamar science, Bob Landis, a wildlife cinema­ marks, and scats. Surveys were con­ Valley. Photo by Bob Landis. tographer with more than 30 years of ducted across a variety of available park experience in Yellowstone, and I set out habitats that afforded easy access from to document the lives of these fascinat­ roads. We searched the shorelines of ing animals. Despite the challenges, our slow-water stretches of the Yellowstone efforts resulted in what we believe to be River, from the outlet of Yellowstone an exceptional natural history film, The Lake through Hayden Valley to the brink Yellowstone Otters, as well as a report to of Upper Falls. We also searched the the park currently in preparation. shores of the lake from Sedge Bay west and south to the West Thumb Geyser The Power of Observation Basin. Tributaries of the Yellowstone on the northern range were surveyed, includ­ In conjunction with the production of ing stretches of the Lamar River, Soda an educational documentary film, we Butte Creek, Slough Creek, and the conducted a survey to gather general eco­ Gardner River, all of which are smaller logical data on resource utilization, waterways with predominantly fast-mov­ movements, habitat use, and behavior of ing water. The portion of the Madison river otters in Yellowstone from April to River within the park was also surveyed. Winter 1998 15 typically less than half the size of adults used by otters for dens. than four hours. In May, we tracked an­ and always found with one or more adult Some den entrances were under water other group for 22.5 km (13.5 miles) females. Adult otters weigh from 7 to 9 making them imperceptible in most situ­ along a trail through thin ice, snow, and kg (15 to 20 pounds) and can be up to 1 ations. Were it not for the sudden appear­ sand along the shore of Yellowstone m (3 feet) long. ance of an otter, I would not have dis­ Lake. covered one such den. One evening in Perhaps our most interesting observa­ Detection and Discovery Hayden Valley, much to my surprise, a tion of traveling otters involved a group pup appeared only an arm's length away of four adults located on May 12 in Otters were not easily found. During from me. The pup used a latrine site Hayden Valley. This group traveled down the study, 451 hours were spent trying to where scat and urine are frequently de­ the Yellowstone River 9 km (6 miles) to locate and observe otters; only 15 per­ posited (thought to be important "scent the brink of Upper Falls in an hour. They cent (69 hours) of that time was spent posts" in otter society) from which I was then traveled back up the river after be­ observing the animals. The subjects of collecting scat samples. The scats, com­ ing turned back at the falls because the 98 percent (67 hours) of the observation plete with fish bones and scales, were overland route otters typically take time were two groups of otters-both commonly found at this site along with around the falls includes a portion of the females with pups, whose home ranges other telltale signs including clumps of park visitors' trail to the overlook. As we were restricted by brood-rearing, mak­ balled-up grass. After leaving me a fresh watched, visitors on the overlook plat­ ing it easier for us to locate them on a sample, the pup quickly dove back into form marveled at an amazing show­ regular basis. General survey effort (May the water and vanished beneath a sub­ swimmers at the very brink of the falls! 11 to July 19) also reflected our poor surface bank that concealed a den! Surviving this feat, the performers moved success in finding otters: in 53 surveys back up the river ending their afternoon of shoreline habitat totaling 188 km (113 Travelers Over Water, Land, and Ice journey. Overall, we found that otters had miles), otters were found at no less than the capability to travel remarkable dis­ 15-km (9-mile) average intervals. Home ranges for otters in the Rocky tances, leading me to believe the park has This low survey success rate may re­ Mountain west vary from 8 to 78 km (5 just one population of otters continuous sult from many factors combining in un­ to 47 miles) of linear shoreline distance, over all major waterways. known proportions, and the degree to and within these ranges they typically which the survey results relate to true travel from 2 to 5 km (1.2 to 3 miles) per Predator and Prey otter abundance is unknown. It is diffi­ day; however, much longer movements cult to detect animals whose secretive are common as we discovered. The long­ One of our primary interests was to nature includes nocturnal activity, the use est distance traveled by otters observed document otter interactions with other of habitats inaccessible to humans, and during our survey was a group of four Yellowstone animals. Otters are both an ability to move a long distance in a adult otters that swiftly descended the predators and prey, as we had oppottuni­ short time. Yellowstone River 10 km (6 miles) from ties to observe. Accounts of predation Other studies have found otter activity Mud Volcano to Alum Creek. They then attempts on otters are rare in the litera­ patterns to be crepuscular (active around moved upstream in the Yellowstone for a ture. Natural enemies of otters in dawn or dusk) or nocturnal-our survey total of 12.5 km (7.5 miles) in just less Yellowstone include gray wolves, coy- results supported these conclusions. We spent 18 days (187 daylight hours) with a female and her two pups (the northern range group) that were active only 30 percent (56 hours) of the time we watched them. The otters spent the remaining 70 percent within a den. On more than a third of the mornings, we arrived to find them returning to the den, as if they had been on night shift, leaving behind only the scraps from fish they had caught and fed on during the night. If otters spend two-thirds of their av­ erage day in a den as this group did, then it's not surprising that they are not often seen during daylight surveys. These rest­ ing sites provided security and made ot­ ters difficult to find. Beaver lodges, log jams, hollow logs, bank recesses, rock recesses, and even culvert pipes were 16 Yellowstone Science Otters are quite successful at catching fish. Mother (above) and pup (left) i,vith large cutthroat trout. During the study, one female caught, on average, 2.5 large trout per day for 18 days. Below left: Otter family in winter. The log jam in the background was used by this family as a den.

otes, red foxes, and bobcats, all of which tunity to steal fish. Feeding otters often 38 to 62 percent (lake and inlet, respec­ may prey upon otters. attracted other scavengers as well, includ­ tively) of one female otter's dive attempts We witnessed one attempt at predation ing bald eagles, ravens, and even peli­ (n = 84) resulted in catching a fish, while upon otters on April 17, when three coy­ cans. Most of the attempts to take fish 40 percent of the dives of another female otes attacked two adult otters using au from otters that we witnessed were un­ (n = 18) resulted in a successful catch. overland route near the Blacktail Ponds. successful; furthermore, after successful These rates compare roughly to values The otters were caught well away from attempts the otters replaced their loss found elsewhere for otter predation, and their hole in the ice aud fled from the quite quickly. In early May, an otter was in contrast with the capture success rates coyotes at a gallop. One otter escaped by fishing in a flooded side channel of the of other carnivores, are quite successful. returning to the hole while the coyotes Yellowstone River aud came up through Studies have shown that otters gener­ closed in on the other. One coyote at­ a slushy layer of ice with a medium-sized ally exhibit disproportional selection for tempted bites to the otter's back, just be­ trout. A bald eagle had been watching the such slower-moving, bottom-dwelling hind the head, while auother coyote came fishing otter from a perch 200 m (700 prey as crustaceans, sculpins, and suck­ from the otter's other side. Still another feet) away aud flew at the otter. The eagle ers. The predominance of faster-moving coyote, perhaps a pup, was cautious aud swooped in low aud fast, scaring the ot­ trout as available prey in Yellowstone has tentative aud ran behind. The otter con­ ter which had just come through the slush. been suggested as a factor that may limit tinued to try to escape by alternately Surprised by the eagle, the otter rau out the abundauce of otters. This assumes that fighting and running. When surrounded of the hole at a quick burst. The eagle otters have difficulty in capturing trout, by the coyotes, it rolled to its back where banked aud landed near the hole, waited which did not appear to me to be the case. it would seem to be more vulnerable; a minute, then hopped over to the hole The otters' relationship with their prey however, from this position it was able and onto the trout. After three dives, the poses some interesting questions. With to lunge swiftly and accurately, biting a otter caught a sucker aud ate it only 40 m Yellowstone's world-renowned trout coyote's muzzle at least once. In the end, (131 feet) from where the usurper population we might expect an otter the otter appeared to have escaped­ perched with a second eagle who had population to be equally robust. Perhaps though blood on the coyote's muzzle sug­ joined the first in eating the trout. The prey availability is not a factor that stauds gested the encounter had consequences observation suggested that the otters' alone in determining otter numbers. The for the otter, the coyote, or both. hunting success rate could accommodate predator-prey relationship may be more Coyotes and otters interacted fre­ such losses to scavengers. complicated by local prey abundance quently, but we saw no other interactions only during summer, when mothers are that appeared to have been predation at­ Factors Limiting Otters? rearing their pups. After the emergence tempts on the otters. Particularly in win­ of pups from the den, a brood-rearing ter, we often saw coyotes monitor the The hunting success rates of otters have female occupies habitats with the re­ activities of otters perhaps for the oppor- not been well documented. In our study, sources she needs to raise her dependent, Winter 1998 17 Jess-mobile pups. In our observations, a in this exchange that address aggression, female raising a pup used a restricted tolerance, and avoidance within the so­ home range of 5 km (3 miles) linear ciety of otters. Unfortunately, we were shoreline distance where otter habitat was unable to observe what occurred within exemplary: calm, slow waters with seclu­ the den. sion, secure dens, and abundant prey. A different female caught, on average, 2.5 The Status of Yellowstone's Otters large trout per day for 18 days within a core area of 2 km2 (0.77 mi'). Initially, we perceived an apparent scarcity of otters. Then, as we slowly Riparian Neighbors became familiar with their elusive nature, we reconsidered and felt perhaps they A strong association between beaver may not be scarce, just hard to find. In and otter occupation has been well docu­ the end, the question remained unan­ mented in other areas. In addition to pro­ swered. To get at it further, the factors viding good den sites, beavers can alter that determine otter abundance need to riparian areas by building dams that form be studied further. While observing and productive pond habitats preferred by documenting otter behavior, we found otters and their prey. The relationship little to directly contribute to an under­ between beavers and otters may occa­ Mother and pup rest on partially standing of this critical aspect of ecol­ sionally extend to sharing the same den! submerged log. Logs, which are safe from ogy, but we could speculate on which A few years ago a Yellowstone ranger many predators, are often used as secure factors might be involved; prey relation­ reported seeing several beavers near a places to eat fish. ships, habitat quality, and social interac~ lodge on a pond near the Snake River. tions seem worthy of investigation. Several days later, he reported with some gested that otters had a traditional or Factors explaining population regula­ chagrin that there was a family of otters learned use of these sites. tion in otters are largely unknown else­ swimming in and out of the beaver lodge; Traditional use of a den or landing and where, as well. In most documented yet, he was certain he had correctly iden­ the associated latrine may serve as a com­ cases, otter mortality was heavily influ­ tified the animals seen earlier as beavers. munication network in which scats, urine, enced by human-related factors includ­ He was relieved when told that, though and anal gland secretions advertise the ing trapping, rpad kills, and illegal kills. he did not find the species together, river presence of individuals. Melquist and In the protective sanctuary of the park, otters' use of occupied beaver lodges is Homocker (1983) wrote in their land­ these mortality sources would theoreti­ well documented in scientific literature. mark monograph: cally be less consequential. If this is true, Few beavers inhabited our survey ar­ "scent marking may be a form of co­ Yellowstone offers us a good opportunity eas, and we encountered no beavers while vert aggression, but it would not pre­ to study otters under natural conditions searching for otters. However, three aban­ vent [other otters] from using a par­ and to further delve into the enigmatic doned beaver lodges along the ticular area ... the individual and the world of the water weasel. Yellowstone River still serve as fre­ current space is defended without quently used otter dens. reference to fixed spatial bound­ Literature Cited aries." Otter Society They reported that while there is no Melquist, W.E. and M. G. Homocker. defense of a site, there is defense of the 1983. Ecology of River Otters. Wild!. ·In many species, social interactions space currently occupied. This strategy Monogr. 83:1-60. effectively limit population growth, but may well serve a population of highly few reports exist concerning social strife mobile carnivores confined to long, nar­ Nathan Varley has lived in Yellowstone among otters in the wild. Long, linear row home ranges. Our only glimpse into Park for more than 20 years. In 1994, he home ranges of otters frequently overlap this world occurred along the Yellowstone earned a M.S. in Fish and Wildlife Man­ to form a non-territorial, spatial distribu­ River on June 27, when four otters en­ agement at Montana State Universiry, tion. Within these overlapping home tered the occupied den of a female with studying mountain goat ecology in the ranges, activity centers associated with a pup. No indications suggested that the Absaroka Range. Since then he has dens, landings (sites where otters often meeting was hostile; rather, the four worked with a variety ofwildlife species come to shore), and latrines are found. emerged several hours later and traveled including wolves, moose, and otters. For example, otter movements in Hayden down the river. The female and her pup, More recently, he has been instrumental Valley and Lamar Valley seemed to be­ appearing unharmed, left the den min­ in the creation ofa biological consulting gin and end at predictable locations such utes later and did not return in the fol­ company which specializes in ecological as certain beaver lodges or logjams, re­ lowing days. While difficult to interpret, research, filming, and interpretive enter­ spectively. Their frequency of use sug- communications may have taken place prises in Yellowstone. 18 Yellowstone Science Draft Report Released on Brucellosis GYA. A Greater Yellowstone Inter­ peal the case, and an appeal was filed Science agency Brucellosis Committee is work­ with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ing to secure funding for continued bru­ on February 6, 1998. Meanwhile, until a In December 1997, the NPS welcomed cellosis research and related planning and frnal court order is issued, wolves will the release of a draft National Academy management activities. be protected and managed just as they of Science (NAS) report on brucellosis A final version of the NAS report will have been. in bison and elk in the greater incorporate quesiions and comments In January 1998, park staff arranged Yellowstone area (GYA). The review was from the Interior agencies that commis­ for Helicopter Wildlife Management to commissioned last May by the Depart­ sioned the study. capture and radiocollar 17 wolves from ment of Interior to evaluate existing sci­ 5 packs as part of long-standing plans to ence related to the concern that bison or Wolf Population Growing continue monitoring the progress of the elk could transmit the bacteria Brucel/a recovery effort. The capture operations abortus to cattle. The organism can cause As of January 15, 1998, there were at were completed without injury to either the disease brucellosis in cattle, which !_east 85 gray wolves in the greater human handlers or wolves. Helicopter often results in abortions by infected ani­ Yellowstone population, including 22 Wildlife Management donated the equip­ mals. A vigilant national regulatory ef­ adults, 15 yearlings, and 48 pups less than ment, personnel, and helicopter time used fort has reduced the number of infected 1 year old. Free-ranging wolves made up to net-gun the wolves, and radio collars cattle herds in the United States; the goal 9 packs, and 4 wolves remained tempo­ were purchased with private donations. of the national brucellosis eradication rarily penned following an incident of Another attempt to collar wolves from the program, developed cooperatively by the livestock depredation last fall; plans are remaining packs will occur in March. states and the Animal and Plant Health to release the captive wolves in the spring. Inspection Service (APHIS), is eradica­ The largest family continued to be the tion of the disease from cattle by 1998. Rose Creek pack, which numbered 15 The disease can affect humans, but as the wolves living in the western part of the NAS report states, "human brucellosis is Lamar Valley, although recently it ap­ not a widespread health threat today in peared that 2 wolves dispersed from the North America." group. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The NAS review deterntined that eradi­ agents are investigating the illegal cation of brucellosis from wildlife in the shootings of2 males from the Druid Peak GYA is not now technically feasible. But pack in December 1997; the incidents oc­ studies were identified which could lead curred east of Yellowstone. to the development of techniques to make Also in December, U.S. District Court eradication a real possibility in the future. Judge William Downes found that the The primary finding in the report is that wolf reintroduction program in risk management is critical to controlling Yellowstone and central Idabo violated Cascade Geyser Rejuvenates the disease in the GYA until a proven, the intent of section JOG) of the Endan­ effective vaccine and a practical delivery gered Species Act because of the lack of An old tourist pleaser from the last cen­ mechanism for inoculating elk and bison geographic separation between fully pro­ tury, Cascade Geyser-located in the are found. The report emphasized that tected wolves already existing in Mon­ Upper Geyser Basin not far from Old brucellosis affects both elk and bison and tana and the reintroduction areas in which Faithful-rejuvenated on January 9, encompasses the entire GYA, not simply special rules for wolf management ap­ 1998. It began several hours after a small Yellowstone National Park; the authors ply. The judge wrote that he was "espe­ earthquake just one mile away, which stated that "it would be impossible to cially mindful of the concerted efforts of appeared to trigger an eruption of another vaccinate all GYA elk:" the Government and wolf-recovery ad­ major geyser, Giantess. Though Giant­ Efforts to address brucellosis in wild­ vocates to accommodate the interests of ess' eruptions typically last for days, this life have intensified in recent years, as stockgrowers and others who may be one aborted after just three hours, and the disease in cattle has diminished radi­ adversely affected by the wolf recovery Cascade began dumping· chocolate­ cally. The states of Montana, Idabo, and program," and reached his decision "with brown water into the nearby Firehole Wyoming have been working with the the utmost reluctance." He ordered the River. The geyser quickly cleaned its NPS (especially Yellowstone and Grand removal of reintroduced wolves and their throat and subsequent eruptions, visible Teton national parks), other land-man­ offspring from the Yellowstone and cen­ from Old Faithful, have been spouting 10 agement agencies, and several research tral Idabo experimental population areas, meters (30 feet) tall about every six min­ agencies to deterntine how to protect the but immediately stayed his order pend­ utes. Cascade Geyser has a history of cattle industries while sustaining, wild, in:g appeal. The Department of the Inte­ erupting for short periods of time, espe­ free-ranging herds of bison and elk in the rior asked the Justice Department to ap- cially after earthquakes, but it had not

Winter 1998 19 NETXYYThir K"Onotes

been observed at all since 1992 when it Archeological Research Reveals New "burped" once to a height of about one Information meter. Eruptions to its full height hadn't been seen since before 1912. During the 1997 field season, park staff, cooperators, and volunteers contrib­ IGBST Gets New Leader uted to park archeology studies and made a number of new discoveries. The gen­ Beginning in February 1998, the In­ eral patterns of obsidian use are begin­ teragency Grizzly Bear Study Team ning to emerge through determination of (IGBST) will have a new leader. Dr. the sources of obsidian found in a vari­ Chuck Schwartz, formerly a research co­ ety of locations. For example, along the ordinator with the Alaska Department of Yellowstone River upstream from Fish and Game, arrived to replace the re­ Gardiner, Obsidian Cliff obsidian domi­ tired Dick Knight (see interview, this is­ nates the samples sourced so far, but Bear sue.) Schwartz has been director of the Gulch obsidian from southern Idaho is Moose Research Center and leader of an present in minor amounts. The obsidian interagency team studying brown bears in the gravels at Park Point, on the east on the Kenai Peninsula. He has expertise shore of Yellowstone Lake, is from an in black and brown bear ecology and unknown source. As more samples are management, ungulate physiology and Park StaffTest GPS Accuracy taken, the researchers hope to determine nutrition, predator-prey dynamics, and if distinct patterns of obsidian use can be population management. He envisions Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are identified for people at different times in continuing the ongoing research with ad­ increasingly touted for use in research the past. ditional emphasis toward a systems ap­ and mapping projects. Staff from Along the Yellowstone River corridor, proach to studying grizzly bears in Yellowstone's Spatial Analysis Center data from three eroding roasting pits/ greater Yellowstone. recently conducted their own accuracy hearths were salvaged and two other sites tests on GPS units available in the park. were tested. All the sites were prehistoric Celebrating "People and Place" They chose test locations to represent the in age and had been severely damaged best and worst possible conditions under by the 500-year floods that occurred ear­ More than 225 persons attended which measurements are taken in the lier in the summer. One site contained Yellowstone's fourth biennial science park. Three readings were taken at each Intermountain ware (radiocarbon dated conference on "People and Place: The of three survey sites (two "ideal" sites and atA.D. 1320±70 yrs.) from the most re­ Human Experience in Greater one "bad" location), using the park's cent period of prehistoric occupation. Yellowstone," held October 12-15, 1997, Tota!Station, a traditional survey instru­ This is only the second prehistoric in Mammoth Hot Springs. Highlights of ment that measures accuracy to no less ceramic site identified in the park. the conference included author T.H. than one centimeter. The overall results A historical archeology crew led by Watkins discussing the difficulties with were reported to be very positive. In fact, Ken Karzmiski from the Museum of the consensus during the A. Starker Leopold errors were less than expected; in particu­ Rockies tested the Soda Butte Soldier Lecture; professor Donald Worster speak­ lar, the measurements taken under forest Station along the Northeast Entrance ing on a comparative perspective of the cover (much of the park) were generally road. When the Army managed conservation movement in North satisfactory, although the researchers cau­ Yellowstone, there were 16 such posts America for the Superintendent's Inter­ tion that the maximum error of approxi­ throughout the park. The archeology national Luncheon; and a humorous mately 9 meters, taken under heavy for­ work, in combination with archival data, evening talk by Patricia Nelson Limer­ est canopy, is not much better than digi­ is clarifying the chronology and function ick on "Lessons and Lesions of History: tizing from a 1:24,000 U.S.G.S. topo­ of select features at the site. Yellowstone and Progress." Retired park graphic map. Satellite orientation, selec­ Of particular interest is the discovery historian Aubrey L. Haines was present tive availability, atmospheric conditions, of very young bison calf bones at a Lamar for the first lecture in his honor, in which surface reflectance, and distance between Valley site. A radiocarbon age of U.C.L.A.'s Peter Nabokov discussed a known base station and the GPS unit 2480±70 years B.P. was obtained using "Reintroducing the Indian: Observations used may all affect the accuracy of field a bison ulna. This is the first archeologic of a Yellowstone Amateur." Abstracts measurements. In the future, the park site in the park that clearly shows occu­ from the conference are available by call­ hopes to provide additional training and pation during a particular season, based ing (307)344-2203 or via email: access to GPS units to its scientists and upon the timing of bison calving activity [email protected] resource managers. in late spring.

20 Yellowstone Science ne N11tion11l lP11rk fate University

Yellowstone National Park's 125th Anniversary Symposium May 11 - 24, 1998, at Montana State University Bozeman, Montana

A two-week symposium commemorating 125 years of Yellowstone National Park's influence on scholarly research and creative activities will be held at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, and is designed to attract an international audience of world class researchers. The goal of the symposium is to highlight the interplay between universities, natural areas such as Yellowstone, and humankind.

Conferences include: National Parks in the Global Ecosystem The Greater Yellowstone GEO-Ecosystem; An Integrated View of Geology and Biology Life in Extreme Environments Fire and the Yello\vstone Ecosystem: Ten Years of Study and Change

Workshops include: The Greening of Yellowstone The Greater Yellowstone Data Clearinghouse: A Paradigm for Sharing Information Biosphere-Geosphere Linkages in Yellowstone: Defining a New Generation of Ecosystem Research in Greater Yellowstone

Field Trips include: Two days in Yellowstone National Park in conjunction with "The Greater Yellowstone GEO-Ecosystem, An Integrated View of Geology and Biology" One day in the park in conjunction with "The Greening of Yellowstone" One day in the park in conjunction with "Fire and the Yellowstone Ecosystem"

Exhibits include: Art, Photography, Library documents exhibits, and a Film Series Other: Concerts, Black Tie Ball, Special Opening and Closing ceremonies at MSU and at Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, with many distinguished speakers.

For further information: Carolyn Manley, Conference Coordinator, Mountain Research Center, Montana State University, PO Box 173490, Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5145 email: [email protected] www.mrc.montana.edu/YNP_125

Winter 1998 21