Grizzly DNA monitoring in the Sapphire Mountain Range

A Place for All - A Day in the Field

The one-track roads leading from Stevensville, Montana, into the Sapphire Mountains are lined with wildflowers like beargrass and lupines by early July. As the truck climbed, the view of the Bitterroot Valley got better and better, as it was a clear, sunny day with temperatures in the 80s.

I was tagging along with Russell Talmo, a program associate for Defenders of Wildlife, and Gypsy, Talmo's seven-year-old German shepherd. Talmo goes into the Sapphires monthly to check on six field sites. Why? Talmo is looking for grizzlies.

More specifically, he's looking for evidence of grizzly bears in th...

 

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