Study sounds alarm on Yellowstone grizzlies
Kaiser JJ. 1999. Study sounds alarm on Yellowstone grizzlies. Science. 284(5414):568
The Interior Department's plan to release a strategy for managing Yellowstone National Park's grizzlies is premature in the eyes of some scientists. The department drafted the plan in the belief that the grizzly population is thriving and warrants removal from threatened species list, but Craig Pease of the Vermont Law School and David Mattson of the U.S. Geological Survey claim that Yellowstone grizzly numbers grew by only about 1 percent a year from 1975 to 1995. The divergent opinions arise partly because of different ways of estimating the reclusive bear's population growth rate. Even if the Interior Department's estimate of a 5 percent annual population rise is accurate, the bears may still be threatened because blister rust disease has ravaged the whitebark pine and cutthroat trout are suffering predation by lake trout.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Kaiser, J
- Units
- YELL
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos), Management, Threatened and Endangered Species