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Hello and welcome!
Thanks for dropping in to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, a not-for-profit, AZA-accredited wildlife park and educational facility, with a diverse crew of staff and volunteers. We're glad you're here with us, and we hope to see you in person soon.
As usual, there's a lot going on in this issue. Enjoy the photos and the news. Get to know our amazing cast of characters, and share us with your friends. Please come visit us, right here in West Yellowstone, relax and watch the animals, or participate in one of our interactive programs and displays. Until then we wish you all the best. We hope we can bring a little discovery and excitement your way. See you soon!
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Around The Center
What's Happening at the GWDC
With unwelcome April snow and temperatures in the 20s, Winter Storm Walda has been the low-light of our month so far. The highlights? Almost too many to count: some exciting enrichment opportunities for the animals, a visit from our regional NBC news crew, a couple great partnerships with zoos across the country, needed renovations at the Center, lots of visitors on Spring and Easter breaks, and Earth Day plans in the works! It's not hard to stay busy around here, come snow or high water.
As you can see, our container testing program is in full swing. We assumed full financial and logistical responsibility for this program late last year, and have been waiting for improved weather conditions so we could resume testing. A container must be fully intact after 60 minutes of contact with bears to be labeled "Bear-Proof" or "Bear-Resistant." Once it passes this test, gaining the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee's approval, the manufacturer can sell this container to National Parks, State Parks, and federal lands. You can watch the full video that aired on KTVM last week by clicking here. Randy and the bears represented the Center beautifully, if we do say so ourselves!
We are excited to be helping out the zoo in Buffalo, NY with their wolf exhibit. We'll keep you posted on the progress. We will also be hosting an intern from the Philadelphia Zoo this summer. We're glad to be part of a network of organizations doing good work for and with animals. We're also thrilled to be the recipients of several donated trees. Thank you Delaware North! And finally, while slightly less glamorous news, we have renovated the Men's and Women's Restrooms in the Gift Shop, and will be finishing work on our Amphitheater in the coming weeks.
Remember if you have any questions, or just want to know more about any aspect of the Center, you can always give us a call at 406.646.7001, reply to this newsletter, or email
info@grizzlydiscoveryctr.com. We will try to keep you informed and up to date in as many ways as we can. Your involvement and interest in what we do keeps us doing it! Thanks again for tuning in.
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Bears, Wolves, and Birds
(Oh My!)
Animal Updates
The bears, as you can see, are being challenged and stimulated with lots of container testing. They are also gnawing on large bones right now, as wild grizzly bears coming out of hibernation feed on carcasses of winter-killed elk and bison in March,
April, and May. While our bears do not hibernate, they still respond to natural internal and external rhythms and stimulants. They even seem to get Spring Fever. Kobuk and Nakina have been especially playful and seem to want to spend as much time as possible outside.
The wolves also seem to be enjoying the hint of spring. They have been playing, hunting, and snoozing in the sunlight, immune to the wind or bursts of cold that come with the season. We removed the last rib cage from the River Valley habitat last week, and the daily enrichments have been informative for visitors and stimulating for the wolves. And the birds, you ask? All are doing very well. Our best bird news is that the first bluebirds of the season have been spotted (see our Facebook page for a real taste of spring) in West Yellowstone. Winter Storm Walda can't hurt us now!
Every issue of our email newsletter will have updates on our animals, and we will still be sending quarterly newsletters through the mail. Our next Howls & Growls newsletter will be sent out at the beginning of June. We know it's not the people who draw you to the GWDC, as delightful as we are, so we'll keep you posted on the reason we're all here: the bears, wolves, and birds. Don't forget our bear dog Nakiska, who will be participating in our summer programs! Remember to check out our webcams when you're staring at your computer. It'll make you feel a little bit closer, and it's way more fun than work!
Check out our birds...
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Takoda
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Education
Knowledge Is a Powerful Tool
One of the challenges our interpreters face daily (and in the busy season more than daily), is confronting strong feelings visitors have or have read about concerning wolves and their presence in the wild. Just as we try to interpret animal behavior without anthropomorphizing it, we try to present the complexity of reintroducing wolves without politicizing it or using emotional triggers and language. It isn't an easy topic, and we respect that people have strong feelings about the role, range, and protection of wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently facing a decision on federal protection of gray wolves. The agency could announce as soon as this spring whether it will propose a blanket delisting of wolves in most of the lower 48 states. Wolves in the Northern Rockies and around the Great Lakes, where reintroduced populations are well-established, are already off the Endangered Species List. Chris Tollefson, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, DC, said last week that the agency hasn't made any decision yet whether it will propose the blanket delisting. Even if the Fish and Wildlife Service ends federal protections, Tollefson said states would be free to cultivate their own wolf populations. "It's fair to say that there wouldn't be a prohibition, it would simply be left to the states to determine how to manage wolves in their boundaries," he said. As an educational facility, we want folks to learn about wolves. We want visitors to better understand the role of predators in our ecosystem, and to increase their knowledge of wolf behavior. We hope you'll keep an ear out for more news on this topic, and draw your own conclusions about the complex issues surrounding wolves in our area and possibly in yours. On to other, lighter educational topics! It's almost Earth Day, and the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center is taking an active role in West Yellowstone's 4th Annual Celebration! Join us April 26th, 27th, and 28th for fun and informative events! We will have a full schedule of presentations, booths, and scavenger hunt details in the next newsletter, but make plans now to be here for a super weekend for kids and adults. Craft tables, face painting, Ranger talks, GWDC presentations, s'mores and more are all on the agenda! See you in West Yellowstone for Earth Day 2013! In other news, we have school tours coming in, and an outreach program scheduled in Livingston Montana coming up. If you're interested in visiting the GWDC with your family or with your students, or if you'd like to sponsor a Teaching Trunk or outreach program, let us know. One of the Center's naturalists can visit your school for special assemblies, programs or activities. As you know, some of our birds-of-prey can travel for such programs as can our large collection of wolf and bear artifacts. We will customize the program or the Teaching Trunk for your group and areas of special interest.
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Developments
New and Exciting Opportunities to Support the GWDC
Just a few weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency released the first comprehensive survey of the nation's stream and river health. You may be surprised to learn that fifty-five percent of U.S. rivers and streams are in "poor condition" for aquatic life. Excessive levels of the fertilizers nitrogen and phosphorus, high levels of bacteria and mercury, decreased vegetation cover, and increased human disturbance are the key stressors affecting thousands of river and stream miles surveyed for this study. This is the bad news.
The good news is that the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center is planning a new exhibit that will not only highlight a riparian habitat based on the Madison River Valley, but will educate hundreds of thousands of visitors about the value of clean, healthy river and stream systems. Our upcoming Banks of the Madison River Otter and Riparian habitat will demonstrate the role of indicator species within a healthy ecosystem. When the biology of a riparian habitat is healthy, the chemical and physical components of the stream are also typically in good condition, according to the EPA. Our exhibit will present a robust stream system that supports and teaches visitors from across the country about safeguarding aquatic insects and other creatures such as trout, toads, aquatic birds, and of course, river otters. You will see more and more about this project as we begin to develop it, and we hope you will be as excited about it as we are.
Other projects we're really excited about are the almost-completion of our outdoor amphitheater, the construction and collaborative potential of our new bear kitchen and workshop, and the up and coming Living With Bears Exhibit, which will feature a bear-proof chicken coop, demonstration beehives, and many other interesting and relevant components. We invite you to stay tuned as we continue to develop the GWDC, and we encourage you to be a real part of our continuing work.
Whatever your reasons for giving, and whatever your role in supporting the animals here, we are thankful that you are involved with the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center.
Thanks again for all you do. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Keep reading about other ways to support the GWDC...
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Eye Candy
Photographs and Artwork from the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
We are honored to have many artists and photographers visit and support the GWDC. Their vision and talents inspire and enliven our work here, so we thought it would be nice to feature some of their work in every issue of our newsletter. If you'd like to see your artwork here, send us an image! Paintings, sculptures, and mixed media are welcome too.
Our thanks to Gretchen Heine, Scotty Heppel, and Jeff Weymier for this week's photographs.
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We hope you enjoy this issue, learn a little something, and feel like you are here with us for just a few minutes. It's a pretty special place to be. Have a great couple of weeks and a fantastic spring, and we'll look forward to seeing you soon. Thanks again for all you do.
Sincerely
(And with one more container testing photo for good measure),
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Sam Gives "Bear-Resistant Container" a Whole New Meaning
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The GWDC Staff
Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center |
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