TWS member monitors grizzly bears with camera traps

In an effort to monitor grizzly bear populations in national parks, researchers placed remote cameras throughout the Rocky Mountains. In a recent study published in Biological Conservation, TWS member Robin Steenweg, one of the lead authors in the study and a Ph.D. student at the University of Montana, and his colleagues tested whether this camera trap technology is a cost-effective way to monitor species at risk. The team found that the cameras work well to monitor carnivores such as grizzly bears as long as there are enough cameras set up and the project is well planned. Further, the study showed that this network of more than 500 remote cameras throughout Banff, Yoho, Kootenay, Jasper and Waterton National Parks is enough to detect changes in the grizzly bear population. Read more about this monitoring effort and check out some camera trap photos in the Calgary Herald.