JACKSON, Wyo. - Bears throughout Wyoming, including celebrated Grizzly 399 and her four adolescent cubs, are becoming increasingly active in search of food before winter hibernation.

Wyoming's wildlife managers are encouraging all residents and visitors to do their part to keep bears - and themselves - safe.

Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, said 399 is widely viewed as a national treasure, and she encouraged fans to give the bear and her family plenty of space.

"We live in a unique environment up here, where we have her and her cubs wandering around," said Combs. "And we should be able to appreciate them and enjoy them, and also give them the room to move around and find food, hopefully before they turn in for the winter."

Combs said bears and people can co-exist; it just takes a small shift in your mindset and taking a few extra precautions, especially during the late summer/early autumn feeding period known as hyperphagia.

For a comprehensive list of tips for how to make your home bear safe, and how to manage encounters outdoors, visit 'WyoWild.org.'

To avoid the mistake of inviting bears into your home, Combs said keep doors and windows closed and locked.

Make sure pet and livestock feed and trash is kept indoors or in bear-proof cans. And wait to put trash out until the morning before pickup.

It's also a good idea to remove bird feeders until mid-December.

Combs added that installing simple, solar-powered electric fencing around beehives, gardens and compost can make a big difference.

"If you have a chicken coop, secure that with some electric fencing," said Combs. "Electric fencing is highly successful with bears. They get zapped once and they will never come back to that source again. And that will keep other animals out as well."

Encounters with bears while hunting or hiking are rare, but Combs said bear spray is the most effective way to protect yourself as well as bears.

Make sure you know how it works, and that it's accessible, because encounters can happen pretty quickly. She recommended using a chest holster, or attaching it to your belt, within easy reach.

"In incidences where there are bears, and people are surprising them, bear spray usually ends up in either less injuries or no injuries to the people," said Combs. "And obviously the bear still lives to see another day too."

Today is Earth Day, and one initiative in southern Arizona is helping build public gardens providing beneficial habitat for pollinators, from Monarch butterflies to bees and bats.

Emily Bishton, founder and coordinator of the Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project, said the human population depends on these animals and insects, as many of our foods and plant-based products require pollination. But human activity and climate change have put pollinators in jeopardy and Bishton wants to increase awareness of how crucial they are.

"The best chance you have for attracting and nurturing pollinators is with the species that they've co-evolved with," Bishton explained. "They will instinctively know that is food for them, or a place they can lay their eggs. They also are more likely to be able to put up with the way our climate is now and the way it is changing."

Bishton pointed out one focus of the project is to get Arizonans to plant more native species like milkweed, which is especially critical for Monarch butterflies. She would also like people to reconsider the use of pesticides since they do kill pests but also other beneficial insects. She suggested contacting a local county extension service or master-gardener program for alternative methods.

Madian Romero, technical assistant supervisor for the Caviglia-Arivaca Library, has been responsible for getting teenagers in the area to participate in the Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project. They not only help build garden spaces around town but grow their knowledge behind the importance of pollinators, as well as community building.

"The teens, they've come up with ideas on how to fundraise for the projects," Romero emphasized. "Each business that agrees to have a garden, it can be free."

Romero added the project has also been a character-building exercise for the young people of Arivaca, and hopes it is an experience they will cherish.

The state Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University are looking for volunteers to help create a new Bumble Bee Atlas.

Bees are an important part of the ecosystem, and scientists are figuring out their habitats to help them thrive.

Iowa is home to at least 14 species of bumble bees that help pollinate native wildflowers and flowering crops in farm fields and backyard gardens.

Iowa State University University Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and plant pathologist Matt O'Neal said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed several bee species as endangered.

"And that includes the Rusty Patch bumble bee," said O'Neal, "20% of what it used to be, and that includes parts of Iowa. There is also evidence that other bumble species are in decline and so, this survey will give us a chance to see where those bees are and how abundant they are."

With that information, O'Neal said scientists can work to protect the bees' habitats and create Iowa's Bumble Bee Atlas.

It's part of a larger project to map the bees and foster bee development nationwide. Sign up online to volunteer.

The national project is part of a collaboration with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Some 900 people have volunteered for the national atlas project, and counted more than 20,000 bumble bees - which O'Neal said face several major threats.

"Pesticide exposure, parasite and pathogens," said O'Neal, "and then the last 'P,' and probably the most important, is poor forage."

The researchers will work to alleviate those threats by knowing where the bees are.

Volunteers have discovered species thought to be gone from their states, contributed to new field guides, and improved scientists' understanding of bumble bee populations across the country.




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A coalition of conservation groups has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for refusing to relist wolves under the Endangered Species Act.

Helena-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies is part of the suit. The Alliance sued to successfully overturn the wolf's delisting in 2012 but the move fell victim to congressional funding bill negotiations.

Mike Garrity, executive director of the alliance, said the wolves clearly qualify to be protected under the Act and hunting is driving down their numbers, which could cause problems for the animals.

"As their numbers decline, they are at greater risk for inbreeding," Garrity pointed out. "Once inbreeding sets in, the population is sunk."

Livestock and cattle owners argued wolves are a threat to their flocks and herds and want their numbers reduced. The suit was filed in federal District Court in Missoula.

Beyond keeping a robust population of wolves on Montana's lands and helping their species thrive, Garrity noted wolves can also help reduce the population of diseased animals.

"We're starting to have disease in deer, such as Chronic Wasting Disease," Garrity explained. "Predators like wolves are really good at focusing on the sick animals, so that's an excellent way to control Chronic Wasting Disease."

Garrity added wolf management policies in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, all of which allow aggressive hunting of the animals, fail to protect wolves and all native species for future generations, the primary mandate of the Endangered Species Act.