Teton Rush Hour Print 3124

Jackson Hole Daily, Mike Koshmrl– Grizzly bears out and about west of Moran this spring are drawing crowds and providing a steady spectacle for wildlife watchers and photographers.

One of the centers of attention has been a grizzly known by the research number 610, a 10-year-old female that’s accompanied by two 1-year-old cubs. But for almost two weeks now there have been plenty of other members of the Ursus arctos horribilis clan awake and visible in the northern reaches of Grand Teton National Park, Bear Management Specialist Kate Wilmot said.

“Since about April 17 the bears have been active on a daily basis up in the Oxbow, Willow Flats area,” Wilmot said Tuesday. “As of yesterday, we had six different grizzly bears that were in the Oxbow, Willow Flats area.”

Besides grizzly 610 and her cubs, Grand Teton staff have documented three other grizzlies, including two marked bears, she said.

The roadside bear-watching community, which this time of year is made up in good part of dedicated local residents, has paid close attention.

Jackson wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen, who’s been out in the park the past five days, said that his tally is at “six or seven” adult grizzlies, three of which are “extra large” boars going by the pet names Bruno, Brutus and Bigfoot.

“Everybody’s speculating which one is which,” Mangelsen said. “But they’re kind of hard to tell apart and they’re all collared.”

The collars, which allow wildlife managers to identify and keep tabs on the bears, are attached to trapped and sedated grizzlies every year for routine research and monitoring of a species that for now is federally protected and managed as “threatened.” Attempts to mark new bears this spring in Grand Teton failed, Wilmot said, and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team moved its traps to a different part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

In Mangelsen’s view, more than enough park grizzlies are fitted with tracking collars.

“Every damn bear has a collar on it,” he said, “which is over the top and annoying.”

Photos of bears with collars aren’t commercially viable, Mangelsen said, and the artificiality of the devices is a deterrent for wildlife watchers.

“My issue is people come to Grand Teton park or Yellowstone to see bears without collars,” Mangelsen said. “Tourists don’t come here to see manhandled bears.”

A 2014 Journal of Environmental Management study found that in nearby Yellowstone grizzlies along roadsides contribute as much as $10 million in spending annually to the local economy.

Missing from the scene thus far has been bear 399, a 20-year-old sow that a decade ago started raising her cubs in clear view of Grand Teton’s northern roads. Labeled by some as the most famous grizzly in the world, 399 last fall had 2 1/2-year-old cubs that were sent out on their own. That’s reason to believe she may emerge from her den with a fresh litter, Wilmot said.

“If she does, based on the past, we probably won’t see her until about mid-May,” Wilmot said.

Sows with new cubs, she said, are the last grizzlies to come out of hibernation.

Mangelsen said he’s hopeful that grizzly 399 will venture to her usual haunts with her fifth batch of cubs in tow.

“I’m not worried about her, other than these goofballs who say they killed her,” Mangelsen said. “She’s the best mother around and I fully expect her — if she hasn’t been shot — to have cubs this year.”

The photographer’s fears stemmed from comments posted on the Jackson Hole News&Guide’s website.

 

 

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