My position is a Biological Sciences Technician working for Chris Servheen, USFWS Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator ( Grizzly Bear Recovery Program) at the University of Montana. I'm detailed to Katherine Kendall at the USGS Glacier Field Station (Glacier National Park) as a Research Associate.
Grizzly Bear Projects The function of this projects is to conduct research that provides information needed by various agencies for immediate and long-term management of the grizzly bear population in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) and Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem (CYE). The projects are large, multi-agency studies applying non-invasive hair collection and genetic techniques to estimate the population of grizzly bears, a threatened species. The using non-invasive methods. - Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Rub Project (2009-2013): USGS webpage with detailed information
- main objective: to evaluate the efficacy of monitoring grizzly and black bear population trends for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (study area 9 million acres) using noninvasive hair sampling at bear rubs ; estimating population growth rate, abundance, distribution and relative density, gene flow and genetic structure, apparent survival rates.
- Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear DNA Project (2011-2013): USGS webpage with detailed information
- main objective: to obtain a grizzly bear population estimate for the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem (study area 2.5 million acres) using noninvasive hair sampling at bear hair traps and bear rubs
- Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project (2003-2008): USGS webpage with detailed information
- main objective: to obtain a grizzly bear population estimate for the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (study area 8 million acres) using noninvasive hair sampling at bear hair traps and bear rubs
Duties: As part of these project's core staff (and as Project Manager for the Rub Project) I am involved with all facets from design and field work to manuscript prep. - Communication with many federal, state, and tribal agencies
- Present project information and results at professional conferences (International Bear Association, The Wildlife Society, Carnivores)
- Office
- Assist with logistics of field crews – housing, vehicles, scheduling, training, trip planning, etc
- Determine necessary field gear items, coordinate purchase agreements, and maintain a tracking system for all supplies to ensure their distribution meets the needs of crewmembers and field coordinators (~200 field personnel)
- Assist with developing data forms and field protocols
- Arrange, acquire, and write reports for permits and compliance permissions (e.g. CITES, ESA, tribal permits, etc.)
- Co-create and maintain a tracking system for thousands of samples (30,000+ samples), enter data into multiple databases
- Assist in the site selection for grizzly bear hair traps
- Write project safety plan and job hazard analysis report
- Find and write grant proposals for research
- Conduct web page design and maintenance
- Design and update printed materials such as project summaries and brochures to be distributed at meetings, track and report products generated from research
- Work with a relational database (MS Access) to obtain data necessary for web page and project summaries
- Create, maintain, and error check budget spreadsheets for PI (>$8 million over 10 years) including credit card purchase reporting, management
- Conduct literature searches and provide summaries on a wide range of topics related to the project, including conservation genetics, non-invasive sampling techniques, and bear research in general to assist in journal and book chapter manuscript preparation
- Catalog new items (journal articles, reports, etc) and maintain research library of PI
- Catalog and create metadata for a large library of photos (digital and print) and video
- Create maps for presentations and reports using GIS
- Office/Field
- Assist with developing and conducting training programs for field crew and office personnel (~200 field personnel) including accurately explaining genetic and field techniques
- Field
- Accurately identify bear rubbing behavior and other bear signs
- Conduct trail surveys that include 15-18 miles/day over rough terrain under extreme weather conditions
- Hike and camp in remote wilderness settings
- Hair trap and bear rub object setup and data/sample collection
- Remote camera setup and collection
- Other
- designed and created the logo for the project (top right of this page)
- designed part of and created logo for Whitebark Pine Foundation 2007 Meeting and created new logo (as of 2009) for Whitebark Pine Foundation
- Black Bear Project: The methods used for the NDGBP also obtained black bear hair samples which was a unique opportunity to obtain information on the black bear population in the ecosystem. I wrote the study plan, wrote or assisted in writing grants we received to analyze the black bear samples ($100K), involved in analysis of the resulting data, manuscript preparation, and presentation of the results
- Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Database: Instrumental in the design and implementation of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Database. Obtained 30+ years of data (capture, mortality, marked bears, etc) and biological samples, created a comprehensive relational database and sample repository, entered most of the data, created required queries and reports in order to error check data and provide interface for users. The database is a cooperative effort between multiple agencies: USGS, USFWS, MTFWP, NPS, CKST, BFW, USFS, AB Sustainable Resource Development, BC Ministry of Environment, and Parks Canada.
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