Interview with Rose Olvier, Skagit and Whatcom County Field Coordinator for the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project, for Bellingham WA’s Co-op Community News Hiking in the North Cascades some time in the late 1990s, I met a momma bear and her cub on the trail. They were extremely beautiful, with the sun shining through their long [...]

Governor Gregoire declares May 20-26, 2012 “Bear Awareness Week” Special resources celebrate state’s grizzly and black bears and educate the public on how to co-exist Black bears and grizzlies are an important part of our state’s natural heritage. Today, Washington has one of the healthiest black bear populations in the U.S.  It is also one [...]

The city of Issaquah deserves high marks and praise for including bear resistant containers as part of their contract negotiaions for selecting a waste management company. Effective July 1, 2012 CleanScapes will offer Issaquah residents the BearSaver toters for garbage, compost/yard waste and recycling. Read more.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee approved a DNA hair snare study within the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear ecosystem to be conducted over the next few years. This study will parallel a similar study that was conducted within the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem several years ago. This study will be conducted over the entire Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, which [...]

For some, cooler weather means additional sweaters, increased heating bills and a great excuse to eat a lot of pie.  For others, autumn means big game hunting season.  We walk quietly through the woods, in camouflage sometimes sprayed with animal musk, and we bugle to attract animals.  While our technique may be good way to [...]

Chris Laing was hiking in Teton Canyon, Wyoming when he encountered a grizzly bear sow with two cubs. The sow was chasing after Laing’s dog when suddenly she headed towards Laing. He used bear spray to deter the bear and managed to leave the trail uninjured. Wyoming Game and Fish Specialist Mike Boyce thinks Laing’s dog was a factor [...]

While female grizzly bears with young have always been considered to be the more dangerous sex, a recent study by bear biologist Stephen Herrero suggests that the opposite may be true for black bears. Herrero’s study on fatal black bear attacks from 1900 to 2009, published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, shows that male [...]

Following up on recent bear incidents in Issaquah, the Seattle news station King 5 aired a story on June 14, 2011 investigating if Waste Management was planning to take any action. Waste Management was up to the challenge. For the past several months, as a GBOP field representative, I have been collaborating with Waste Management and the City of [...]

The City of Leavenworth is taking steps to discourage black bears and other wildlife from dining on residents garbage. The city is changing its garbage pick-up schedule to encourage residents to put out their garbage in the morning rather than the night before. Leavenworth Public Works Director, Dave Schettler and several city council members attended meetings and [...]

It was a sunny,warm day with people standing shoulder to shoulder anxiously waiting to see what  antics the two grizzly bears would do next as they ripped apart a tent, sleeping bag and cooler in search of food in the mock campsite set up. Chris Morgan of GBOP says there are possibly only 20 grizzly [...]