The wildlife biology program encourages students to go in the field and get hands-on experience. Students work directly on projects involving plants, fish, deer and elk, among other wildlife.
A report from January 2024 by a couple of conservation groups estimates female grizzly bears could reach the Bitterroot Ecosystem in as few as 3.7 years given the number of cubs they have every year, distances between recovery zones, denning habitats, and location of routes with berries bears like to eat.
Mike Bader writes, "Identifying locations for installation of passage structures across major highways would facilitate movements not just for grizzlies but many other species including elk, moose and black bears."
As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers ways to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Bitterroot ecosystem, both biologists and politicians are encouraging plans to allow the bears to move in on their own.
"We have long supported grizzly bear delisting once population objectives are met and once laws and regulations will remain in place to assure grizzly bear populations and habitat will continue to be carefully managed post-delisting."
For a second time, wildlife advocates are asking the courts to require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider how the spread of logging roads on the Flathead National Forest will affect threatened grizzly bears and bull trout.
Keith Hammer writes, "It is time to show some compassion and adjust how we live, work and play in bear habitat. We’re the ones crowding the bears and ourselves, not the other way around."
FWP said it was opening another round because the department wanted to be sure it hadn’t violated state laws requiring FWP to notify county commissioners of the opportunity to comment.