Bozeman Magazine

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The Greater Yellowstone population of bears is not only globally renowned and the focus of a robust nature-tourism industry, but synonymous with the wild character of Yellowstone, the world’s first national park.

The number of bears in the region has rebounded from about 140 in the 1970s to more than 700 today, and grizzlies have expanded their range to places where they haven’t been in 100 years. Their comeback is considered one of the greatest successes in conservation history.

Yet, there is the uncertainly of what will happen in the future. As omnivores, grizzlies have a documented smorgasbord of more than 260 different natural foods.

Yet two of the grizzly’s four key foods that have boosted bear numbers, especially females with cubs, have crashed. Plus the looming impacts of increased human development and recreation on the grizzly and the rest of the Yellowstone system makes it's future uncertain.
- Todd Wilkinson

Christopher Servhenn
Christopher Servheen retired from the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2016 after 35 years as the Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator. Servheen was an Adjunct Research Associate Professor in the College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana from 1992 to 2018. As the Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator, he was responsible for coordinating all the research and management on grizzly bears in the lower 48 states and working closely with grizzly biologists in Alberta and British Columbia.

He is currently the President and Board Chair of the Montana Wildlife Federation, and Co-chair of the North American Bears Expert Team for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Todd Wilkinson

Todd Wilkinson has been a professional journalist since 1985. He is founder and writer in chief of the Bozeman-based conservation journalism non-profit, Mountain Journal (mountainjournal.org) which has readers around the globe. A native of Minnesota's North Woods, he began his career as a violent crime reporter with the legendary City News Bureau of Chicago. Wilkinson’s work has appeared in a wide variety of national publications, ranging from National Geographic and Christian Science Monitor to The Washington Post and many others in-between. He is the author of several critically-acclaimed books on topics ranging from Ted Turner and scientific whistleblowers to the harrowing life of famous Jackson Hole grizzly bear mother 399 featuring photographs by Thomas Mangelsen. Proudly, he adds, "I was also a grunt cook working minimum wage for the park concessionaire at Canyon Village in Yellowstone during two summers of college." For more on Todd's background, go to toddwilkinsonwriter.co

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