People are the greatest threat to grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park, according to a 73-page Sierra Club report, Rural Residential Development Trends in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Since the Listing of the Grizzly Bear. Writer Vanessa K. Johnson says rapid growth in the counties surrounding Yellowstone chews up what's left of the bears' habitat. Human impact has already forced the grizzlies from 99 percent of their former range in the lower 48 states. The 73-page report includes charts and graphs, which show a rapid rise in housing, water, sewer and subdivision permits, and a sharp decline in bear sightings.


For a copy of the report, contact Louisa Willcox at 406/582-8365 or write to Sierra Club Grizzly Bear Ecosystems Project, 234 E. Mendenhall, Bozeman, MT 59715 or see www.sierraclub.org/wilderness/grizzly.