Grizzly Times Podcast

Grizzly Times speaks with Barbara Ulrich. Barbara shares her experience as an owner of an ecotourism business in Gardiner, MT, the doorstep of Yellowstone Park. Faced with the government’s troubling treatment of wolves, bison and other wildlife when they step outside the boundary of Park, Barbara became a leader of a community-based effort to improve state management. Her intelligent, low-key, but persistent style has paid off, with Montana’s adoption of more benign wolf policies. Feeding her curiosity about how the natural world works, Barbra went on mid-career to pursue graduate work looking for signals of past changes in climate in microbes that flourish in bison poop.

Grizzly Times speaks with Stephany Seay, media coordinator for the Buffalo Field Campaign. Stephany is on the front lines of protecting Yellowstone’s buffalo, for which there is sadly still great hostility in Montana and among cattlemen. She and other members of Buffalo Field Campaign monitor buffalo year round, and they bear witness to the government's mistreatment of them, such as last winter when about 600 animals were killed.

Grizzly Times speaks with Bethany Cotton of Wild Earth Guardians. Wild Earth Guardians is a leading light in the fight to protect grizzly bears, wolves, lynx, bobcat and the wild nature of the American West. She started early, testifying at a hearing against a proposed mine (still not built) at the age of 12, and made the decision to become an environmental attorney in high school. You can't help but be inspired by her passion and moved by her resilience and tenacity.

Grizzly Times speaks with Dr. Paul Paquet and Chris Darimont. Paul and Chris are both world renowned experts on predators and their wild ecosystems. Both have publications, in fact a huge number of publications; a list as long as your arm. They may look conventional on paper, but in reality they’re kind of rebels, and they represent a serious challenge to conventional wildlife management, because in addition to researching the animals and their ecosystems, they have expressed concern about the welfare of wildlife.

Grizzly Times speaks with Michelle Uberuaga, the Executive Director of the Park County Environmental Council in Livingston, Montana, which is a grassroots organization working to protect a landscape that is vital to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem – and one that is threatened by two massive gold mines, rural sprawl, and lingering intolerance to grizzly bears and wolves.  Armed with a background as an attorney, a winning personality, and the ferocity of momma bear, Michelle is making headway, along with the members of PCEC… Michelle articulates why species like the grizzly bear need active local AND national constituents, explaining why she works at both scales.

Grizzly Times speaks with Dr. Jesse Logan. Part 2: Dr. Jesse Logan shares the second part of the interview, with fascinating insights on how whitebark pine trees, which provide vital seeds to grizzly bears, are sitting ducks when it comes to the predatory pine bark beetle. Dr. Logan talks about what it was like working on climate change issues in the hostile Bush administration, and his overriding passion for wilderness and wildlife.

Grizzly Times speaks with Dr. Jesse Logan. Part 1: Dr. Jesse Logan blew the whistle on the threat to whitebark pine, a key grizzly bear food, from mountains pine beetle and global warming long before anyone else had imagined it. He tells the amazing story of predicting and then documenting the tragic loss of a magnificent whitebark pine forest in Greater Yellowstone, and using his knowledge to help in the fight to restore legal protections to the Yellowstone grizzly bear. Jesse is a forest ecologist, climate expert and outdoorsman extraordinaire, who in his 70's can still kick your ass in the woods.

Grizzly Times speaks with Charlies Russell. Part 2: Charlie Russell is a rancher, bear expert, film-maker and author, who has such a special personal way with bears that some call him a bear whisperer -- a honorific that he poopoo’s. Charlie has spent much of his life pioneering a different kind of compassionate and respectful relationship with bears and other wildlife, one he thinks is possible for all of us.

Grizzly Times speaks with Charlies Russell. Part 1: Charlie Russell is a rancher, bear expert, film-maker and author, who has such a special personal way with bears that some call him a bear whisperer -- a honorific that he poopoo’s. Charlie has spent much of his life pioneering a different kind of compassionate and respectful relationship with bears and other wildlife, one he thinks is possible for all of us. Charlie has accomplished what many thought impossible, including raising tiny orphan cubs and releasing them successfully in the wild to flourish. Charlie’s decade in Russia’s Far East were high adventure, tracking poachers in his ultralight plane, and building a Russian ranger corps to protect bears and other wildlife. Charlie speaks to tragic deaths by bears of friends like Timothy Treadwell, and the threats to grizzly bears in Alberta and Yellowstone by proposed sport hunting.

Grizzly Times speaks with Tim Bozorth, retired land manager and member of Yellowstone’s Interagency Grizzly Bear Subcommittee, who candidly shares his opposition to grizzly bear delisting. During his 45 years in public service, Tim stood up for the public and our natural resources, and helped make the world a safer place for grizzly bears in the Gravelly and Centennial Mountains. Here he outlines his vision for what still needs to be done next to achieve long term recovery for the grizzly bear.

Grizzly Times speaks to Casey Anderson, who raised a grizzly cub, Brutus, from a tiny baby to a 900 pound giant. Casey challenges us to think differently about our relationships with bears, who are a lot like us. Casey owns Grizzly Encounter, an educational facility that harbors grizzly bears, many of whom were rescued from dire conditions, or zoos that were closing down.

Grizzly Times speaks with Chuck Neal a man who pulls no punches when talking about the management problems of the ecosystems and the political dominance of the livestock industry over all other values on public lands.  Chuck Neal, ecologist, author, and grizzly bear expert, and old friend and colleague spent 40 years as an ecologist working for the Departments of Interior and Agriculture across the West, from New Mexico to Montana, with a special emphasis on wilderness and habitat. Chuck has a passion for grizzly bears and has spent countless hours in Yellowstone’s backcountry in the company of bears. His book, Grizzlies in the Mist makes for a fascinating read.

Grizzly Times speaks with an old friend and colleague Dr. Barrie Gilbert for insights to the mess that is about to unfold in the world of grizzly bears. Barrie is an expert and a retired professor of animal behavior at Utah State University who studied grizzly bears from Yellowstone to Alaska for 40 years. Now he’s also studying how they’re being managed by the government and his information is at times startling.