Grrrr....
The first grizzly bears have been seen in Yellowstone National
Park! This word just in from Bear Management Specialist Kerry Gunther
and Bear Management Technician Mark Biel at Yellowstone:
To: Journey North
From: Mark Biel
March 22, 1996
Subject: Grizzly Sighting
We JUST received a report of a grizzly bear observed yesterday (3/21) at Nymph Lake just north of Norris Junction that was scavenging on an elk carcass! We also JUST received a report (2 minutes ago!) from an NPS employee that saw a grizzly bear on 3/19 SE of Sulphur Hills along the north edge of Pelican Valley! These are in addition to the first 2 grizzly sightings I reported on February 27th (see below).
We received a call from an interpreptive ranger this morning and they told us about some skiiers that saw black bear tracks in the snow on the road at Overhanging Cliff just before Tower Falls on 3/18. That makes those tracks the first reported black bear activity of the year!
Also yesterday we received another report of a black bear. It was observed at Rainy Lake between Tower Junction and Tower Falls. The person that reported it said it was just sitting about 30 yards off the road and seemed a bit sluggish suggesting it has not been out of its den for very long.
This year we received our first grizzly sightings about one week earlier than in 1995 (when they were first reported on 2/23/95). This year's first black bear sighting is about 2 weeks earlier than last year's first reported sighting (on 4/8/95). This may be attributed to the more mild weather we are receiving this spring compared to last spring.
Last year we also had a higher than average number of winter-killed ungulate carcasses for the bears to feed on while this year it seems the numbers will be lower (However this is just a guess right now as we do not conduct our carcass surveys until April so things may change!).
It looks like the bears may be waking up all over the park now! We will keep you up to date!
Mark Biel
Yellowstone National Park
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To: Journey North
From: Kerry Gunther
February 27, 1996
There was some recent bear activity in the last few weeks, possibly a result of the unseasonably warm weather that was with us.
On February 16, 1996 an unknown visitor reported a sighting of a small grizzly bear at Rabbit Creek which is about 4 miles north of Old Faithful.
On February 21, 1996 a backcountry camper reported large grizzly bear tracks on the trail at Washburn Hot Springs thermal area. The bear was not observed but it began snowing early in the morning and the person reported that there was not much snow in the tracks yet, so they must have missed by only a few hours!
Those are the only reports we have had so far this year. With the cold weather back with us for a while, the bears may go back to their dens unless there are enough winter-killed carcasses around to keep them happy or the weather warms up again.
Here is some information regarding Yellowstone's Grizzly Bears that may be useful to you.
Last fall, the majority of the collared grizzly bears were denned by late November to early December. Most of these were females, subadult males and females, and females with young, however, some adult males were located at den sites too. Some of the adult males were still active until late December when they finally denned.
The snowfall in the Yellowstone Area came early and at high elevations. The high altitude snow pack in December was about 147% of normal and now we are near normal to slightly above (about 115%). We have had some unseasonably warm weather last week and now we are back to normal temperatures of about -10 to 20 degrees Farenheit. In all, the temperatures have been right around average.
Take care, and we will update you as more sightings come into our office.
Kerry Gunther
Yellowstone National Park
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