Yellowstone National Park increases protection for bears and visitor safety by implementing changes to two bear management areas

To protect bears and increase visitor safety, Yellowstone National Park will create a new bear management area (BMA) in Hayden Valley, which will prohibit off-trail travel July 15-Sept. 15. The park also decommissioned an existing BMA in the Firehole River area.

Yellowstone is implementing a new 16,453-acre Hayden Valley BMA, located on the west side of the Grand Loop Road in Hayden Valley in the central part of the park. In this BMA, Mary Mountain Trail will remain open for recreational travel; however, off-trail travel will not be allowed from July 15-Sept. 15 each year.

Hayden Valley provides prime habitat for grizzly bears, especially during the summer when high concentrations of bears can be found scavenging on bison carcasses. Park biologists observed as many as 23 individual grizzly bears on a single bison carcass. Since 1970, eight of the last 10 grizzly bear-inflicted human injuries (bites to fatalities) in Hayden Valley occurred in the area that will be the Hayden Valley BMA.

To provide recreational opportunities, Yellowstone decommissioned the 20,670-acre Firehole BMA, located in the west side of the park, due to fewer ungulate carcasses and wildlife conflicts occurring in this area. By decommissioning the Firehole BMA, the public will have access to Midway Geyser Basin Overlook, Fairy Falls, and Mystic Falls trails, which were previously closed to all recreational access between March 10 and the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.

Yellowstone wildlife biologists establish BMA’s in locations where grizzly bears are known to seasonally concentrate because of a high density of elk and bison carcasses. In these areas, certain recreational activities may be limited at specific times of year to reduce encounters between bears and humans. Learn more about BMA’s at Bear Management.



Jeff
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