Rare grizzly sighting occurs at bison range
<p>A grizzly bear was seen at the National Bison Range earlier in July.</p>
MOIESE - A couple of weekends ago the National Bison Range had an unexpected visitor by one of their popular day use areas.
The visitor, a grizzly bear, was seen near the public fishing access point along Mission Creek within the range, a section of the range in close proximity to the range’s day use area and not far from the main office.
The grizzly bear did not cause any trouble and was likely using the area around the creek bed to pass through the range, according to Brendan Moynahan, supervisory wildlife biologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the National Bison Range.
“We don’t have many sightings over the years that have been confirmed with photos. But we do know that grizzly move through the NBR from time to time,” Moynahan said.
Creek beds throughout the Mission Valley help the bears move from one place to another with relative ease, while avoiding encounters with people.
Moynahan noted both Post and Mission Creeks were popular with bears residing in the valley.
“The creeks help them stay unseen and keep out of trouble,” Moynahan said.
The wildlife biologist added it was a good sign the bear came so close to a popular area of the range without causing any problems or displaying aggressive behavior associated with problem bears.
If the visiting member of the public who photographed the bear did not see the animal it likely would have passed through the range unnoticed.
“Grizzly in the valley really like to use creek and river corridors to move; these habitats are incredibly important for linking different types of habitats for many wildlife species,” Moynahan said.
Over the last couple of years grizzly bears have been most active near the range in the early spring, when the bears are first emerging from their winter hibernation.
The wildlife expert said this portion of the year is when trail camera footage and tracks of grizzly bears are most likely to be seen.
“We’ve caught two grizzly sightings (one single animal, one sow with two cubs) on trail cams over the past couple years, primarily in the early spring,” Moynahan said.
The biologist said the potential presence of winterkill bison carcasses is a big draw for the hungry bears, accounting for the previous sighting of the sow and cubs in the early spring of previous years.
Later on in the season the office at the National Bison Range does receive visitor reports of grizzly sightings throughout the range but often times this can be attributed to misidentification with black bears possessing cinnamon colored fur.
“We get a lot of suspected grizzly sightings that we believe may be repeat viewings of a couple cinnamon-colored black bears that we see regularly,” Moynahan said.
There was no doubt about the most recent sighting though, with a visiting member of the public photographing the well-behaved visitor.
Despite the trail camera footage compiled by the National Bison Range over the last few years it is a rare treat for visitors to the range to see a grizzly bear.
“This is the first photo I’ve received from the public of a grizzly,” Moynahan said.
The area in and around the National Bison Range is a diverse ecosystem of wild plant and animal life.
This diversity offers visitors and residents of the area an opportunity to see many wild animals, which are not seen nearly as often in other portions of the state.
“It’s a really great thing to live in a place with a full compliment of native wildlife,” Moynahan said.