Abstract 55 – Bear Awareness Gardiner: Grizzly Bear Conflict Mitigation Work In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Montana

Evan Stout

Gardiner Montana sits on the northern boundary of Yellowstone Park, and is surrounded by a
patchwork of Federal, State and private lands. Seasonally, grizzly bears migrate through the
Gardiner Basin, and often come into conflict with humans while gaining access to attractants
such as fruit trees, garbage, grease traps, pet foods and chicken coops. Our mission at Bear
Awareness Gardiner is to create greater human safety and reduce bear conflicts by securing
attractants and unnatural food sources from the bears. We work in partnership with the State
of Montana, Fish Wildlife and Parks, the National Park Service, The National Forest Service and
several other NGO's to accomplish our goal.
My poster presentation will cover our history of conflict issues in Gardiner, our current
strategies with on the ground work, the complications of cross boundary management between
agencies, program funding, building community participation, successes and challenges, and
the future work of Bear Awareness Gardiner. This may be helpful for any other similar
communities working to reduce human and bear conflicts.