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Yellowstone Grizzly Bears: Ecology and Conservation of an Icon of Wildness

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Yellowstone Grizzly Bears: Ecology and Conservation of an Icon of Wildness YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY BEARS ecology and conservation of an ICON OF WILDNESS EDITED BY P.J. White, Kerry A. Gunther, and Frank T. van Manen YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY BEARS Yellowstone Grizzly Bears: Ecology and Conservation of an Icon of Wildness Editors P. J. White, Kerry A. Gunther, and Frank T. van Manen Contributing Authors Daniel D. Bjornlie, Amanda M. Bramblett, Steven L. Cain, Tyler H. Coleman, Jennifer K. Fortin-Noreus, Kevin L. Frey, Mark A. Haroldson, Pauline L. Kamath, Eric G. Reinertson, Charles T. Robbins, Daniel J. Thompson, Daniel B. Tyers, Katharine R. Wilmot, and Travis C. Wyman Managing Editor Jennifer A. Jerrett YELLOWSTONE FOREVER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK AND U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN SCIENCE CENTER Yellowstone Forever, Yellowstone National Park 82190 Published 2017 Contents Printed in the United States of America All chapters are prepared solely by officers or employees of the United States Preface ix government as part of their official duties and are not subject to copyright protection Daniel N. Wenk, Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Foreign copyrights may apply. National Park Service (NPS) photographs are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Foreign Introduction xv copyrights may apply. However, because this work may contain other copyrighted images or other incorporated material, permission from the copyright holder may be P. J. White, Kerry A. Gunther, and Frank T. van Manen necessary. Cover and half title images: www.revealedinnature.com by Jake Davis. Chapter 1: The Population 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data P. J. White, Kerry A. Gunther, and Travis C. Wyman Names: White, P. J. (Patrick James), editor. | Gunther, Kerry A., editor. | Chapter 2: Historical Perspective 13 van Manen, Frank T., editor. | Bjornlie, Daniel D. P. J. White and Kerry A. Gunther Title: Yellowstone grizzly bears : ecology and conservation of an icon of wildness / editors, P.J. White, Kerry A. Gunther, and Frank T. van Manen ; contributing authors, Daniel D. Bjornlie [and thirteen others] ; managing Chapter 3: Reproduction, Survival, and Population Growth 29 editor, Jennifer A. Jerrett. Frank T. van Manen and Mark A. Haroldson Description: Yellowstone National Park, [Wyoming] : National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park ; [Bozeman, Montana] : U.S. Geological Survey, Chapter 4: Nutritional Ecology 47 Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, 2017. | Includes bibliographical Charles T. Robbins and Jennifer K. Fortin-Noreus references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016058699 | ISBN 9780934948463 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Grizzly bear--Yellowstone National Park. | Grizzly Chapter 5: Movements and Occupied Range 63 bear--Habitat--Yellowstone National Park Region. | Grizzly Daniel D. Bjornlie and Mark A. Haroldson bear--Conservation--Yellowstone National Park Region. | Bear populations--Yellowstone National Park. | Yellowstone National Park. Chapter 6: Ecological Niche 75 Classification: LCC QL737.C27 Y45 2017 | DDC 599.784--dc23 Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, and Kerry A. Gunther LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016058699 Chapter 7: Genetics and Adaptive Capabilities 91 The authors gratefully acknowledge the generous contribution of Yellowstone Forever, whose publication grant enabled the production of this book. Mark A. Haroldson, Pauline L. Kamath, and Frank T. van Manen Chapter 8: Human-Bear Interactions 103 Kerry A. Gunther, Katharine R. Wilmot, Travis C. Wyman, and Eric G. Reinertson Chapter 9: Bear Viewing in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks 117 Kerry A. Gunther, Katharine R. Wilmot, Steven L. Cain, Travis C. Wyman, Eric G. Reinertson, and Amanda M. Bramblett Chapter 10: Current Management Strategy 131 Kerry A. Gunther, Daniel B. Tyers, Tyler H. Coleman, Katharine R. Wilmot, and P. J. White Chapter 11: The Future 153 P. J. White, Kerry A. Gunther, Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, and Daniel J. Thompson Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Facts 169 Kerry A. Gunther, Mark A. Haroldson, and Frank T. van Manen History of Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Conservation and Management 177 Daniel B. Tyers, Kevin L. Frey, and Kerry A. Gunther Acknowledgments 195 Glossary of Terms 197 Scientific Names 211 References 215 Index 255 Author Affiliations 274 Preface Daniel N. Wenk, Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park GRIZZLY BEARS ARE one of the most iconic wildlife species in Yellowstone National Park. They are the species that evokes the greatest emotions in visitors from great elation at seeing bears along roadsides to the awe of a surprise encounter in the backcountry. Grizzly bears are the species that, for many people around the world, best represents the Photograph by Jake Davis wild natural history of the west. My knowledge of grizzly bears and their management in Yellow- stone National Park goes back almost 40 years. There were perhaps fewer than 250 grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area during 1975, when Grizzly bear in autumn. Grizzly bears go through a they were protected as a threatened species under the Endangered period of copious food consumption prior to entering Species Act. I worked in Yellowstone for Superintendents John Towns- their winter dens. Referred to as autumn hyperphagia, ley and Bob Barbee from the fall of 1979 until the fall of 1984, and this stage allows bears to build up sufficient fat over that 5-year span I traveled the roads throughout the park on a reserves before hibernation. near-daily basis. I observed only 5 grizzly bears in the wild during that entire 5-year period. In the early 1980s, the grizzly bear population was still declining following the high human-caused mortality associated with the x YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY BEARS: ECOLOgy AND CONSERVATION OF AN ICON OF WILDNESS PREFACE xi closing of garbage dumps, both inside and outside of Yellowstone view, photograph, or simply enjoy bears that could be seen easily in National Park, where bears had fed for decades. The decisions by the roadside meadows. This new development had become both a bear National Park Service to take these actions were the subject of much management and people management challenge for the park, requiring discussion and heated debate among both advocates and critics of hundreds of staff hours to manage traffic, people, and bears. those decisions. It was rare for visitors to the area to see grizzly bears, Grizzly bear management had been so successful over the previous so it was difficult to understand why any bears—even problem bears— three decades that the Yellowstone population had been removed would be removed. At that time, the population seemed utterly at risk. from threatened species status in the spring of 2007 and contin- Much has changed since then. I believe Yellowstone is ecologically ued to expand in both numbers and range. However, in the fall healthier today than it was in the early 1980s. Many reasons have of 2009, they were returned to threatened species status by court contributed to this, including the reintroduction of wolves, manage- order due to uncertainty regarding the future of whitebark pine, a ment of fire on the landscape, and native fish restoration, but equally high-quality food source for grizzly bears. In 2013, the Interagency or more significant is the recovery of grizzly bears in this ecosystem. Grizzly Bear Study Team completed an analysis of the whitebark Thanks to the interdisciplinary efforts to restore a population of griz- pine issues and concluded that changes in food resources had not zly bears to this landscape, grizzly bears had increased significantly had a profound negative effect on grizzly bears at the population in numbers and range by the time I returned as Superintendent in or the individual level. The population, now numbering possibly 2011. What’s more, they had become a significant draw for tourism. as many as 1,000 bears, had continued to increase during a period I personally saw grizzly bears along the roadside on many occa- of marked whitebark pine mortality. Later that fall, the Yellowstone sions during that first spring back in Yellowstone. Over the Memorial Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Subcommittee voted to recommend that the Day weekend, I toured the park with my family and we saw 10 grizzly U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service once again consider removing grizzly bears just on one day. It was abundantly clear that this was a different bears from threatened species status. park than the one I left more than 25 years earlier. Grizzly bears had The science, well-articulated by the authors in this book, sug- become abundant enough that they were regularly observed forag- gests grizzly bears have recovered biologically. However, they will ing for natural foods in roadside meadows. Wildlife viewing, and likely always need careful management, warranting a conservative in particular viewing of grizzly bears, had become as important to approach strongly rooted in science-based decision making. The visitor experience as the thermal features or the incredible geology challenge for future management will be to maintain a viable popu- of the park. Yellowstone had become the premiere wildlife and griz- lation of grizzly bears within the Yellowstone ecosystem, including zly bear viewing opportunity in the contiguous 48 states and grizzly their ecological function on the landscape. Equally important will bear recovery contributed significantly to the visitor appreciation be managing the grizzly bear population to protect the values of and understanding of natural processes and healthy ecosystems. people, a great many of whom treasure the opportunity to experi- This is something I had never imagined back in the early 1980s, ence bears in their natural environment. This is going to be delicate but there was a tricky side to the recovery. An unintended conse- work, but we must find a way to preserve the bears’ role in ecosystem quence of this recovery was the development of large traffic jams, processes, while at the same time protecting multiple uses of these called “bear jams,” created by visitors that just wanted the chance to landscapes.
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