BOZEMAN – Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone National Park region are thriving and have the potential to continue to thrive in the long term, according to a study by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team.

The study, published in Molecular Ecology, looked at 729 bears and found that estimates of effective population – the number of bears passing genes to the next generation – in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has quadrupled since the 1980s, growing from 100 to about 450.

Researchers also found that genetic diversity in the population was stable.

That means gene variations that can help grizzlies evolve and adapt have a better chance of being passed on to new generations of bears in the ecosystem, which includes parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The genetic variations are important for the continued survival of the bears and their ability to adapt to environmental changes, the study said.

Pauline Kamath, a geneticist and one of the study's authors, said the results are good for the grizzly bears and highlight their restoration as a conservation success.

This study comes as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is said to be mulling a delisting rule for the threatened species. The bear was first listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1975 and has been hailed as one of the law's biggest successes.

The most recent U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total Yellowstone grizzly population at 757 bears, though most government experts believe it's higher.

Kamath said that the stability in genetic diversity is some of the most significant good news in the study.

"As you lose genetic diversity you lose specific gene variants that will allow populations to adapt," she said. "The less diversity you have, the less you have to work with basically."

Grizzly bears only live in a few places around the Northwest, and the Yellowstone region bears aren't connected to any of them, limiting opportunities for genetic exchange with other populations.

Always exciting hunting the drainages outside Cody with so many griz there. If you have lunch in your backpack, you have a friend there, a big one. Glad they are doing well.

According to the weekly newsletter that I get from FWP, we have had three griz killed by cars THIS WEEK! They are increasing rapidly.

This one was a PIG!
Wife ad I had him come within arm's length of our car on our Yellowstone trip last month...

At least some are admitting that there might be more. Those bear are everywhere in NW Wyoming. They make things interesting for sure-and dangerous! A hunting season would help at least to give them some respect for humans. They really add to the "wild" experience, for sure.

When do we get to start hunting 'em?

They sampled 729 bears and the official total population is 757?!?!

No freaking way they sampled over 96% of the population! The Federal Kenai Peninsula brown bear study came up with a similar projected population while noting they missed huge numbers of bears known to be in the sample areas. And all they were using was hair traps at bait piles.

I forget their actual sample size, but it was below 50% and they were doing all they could to minimize the count.

To suggest their population figure is anything more than politically inspired "Keep the number as small as possible" horseschit is ridiculous.

Bears will be delisted the same day Jennifer Lawrence jumps into my bed.

Hell, in one day riding the bus in Denali Park I saw 80% of that park's grizzly "estimated" population right there from the road...


Sure I did....unless SOBs had been throwing their lunches out the bus windows.

The 729 bears were sampled during the period from 1982-2007.