Welcome to the USGS Wildlife: Terrestrial and Endangered Resources Program
USGS scientists supported by the Wildlife: Terrestrial and Endangered Resources Program (Wildlife Program) conduct research on diverse natural resource topics involving migratory wildlife, marine mammals, threatened and endangered species, wildlife disease, terrestrial plants, and amphibians.
These activities focus primarily on the information needs of Department of the Interior partners, although we also collaborate with State governments, tribes, and nongovernmental organizations. The Wildlife Program supports the development of new information and tools for the management of wildlife on Federally managed lands such as National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and Bureau of Land Management areas.
It has been estimated that 765 grizzly bears reside in northwest Montana. USGS biologist Katherine Kendall at Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) has been actively photographing and recording grizzly bears and black bears with remote cameras. Using hair snag samples collected from barbed wire hair traps and bear rub trees for genetic analysis. This research is being used to determine the size and distribution of bear populations in northwestern Montana.
Remote sensors are being used to understand more about bear use of naturally-occurring bear rubs, bear marking behavior, and effects of putting barbed wire on bear rubs to facilitate hair collection, according to the objectives set out by USGS researcher Katherine Kendall. Read the USGS News Release by USGS scientists Kate Kendall and Dave Ozman, New Study Estimates 765 Grizzly Bears Reside in Northwest Montana (Sept. 16, 2008).
Grizzly Bear Project Podcast: podcast is an excerpt from a short film Glacier Park made entitled "Glacier Is" that was presented to the Parks, Peace and Partnerships Symposium in fall 2007 as part of the Waterton- Glacier International Peace Park 75th anniversary celebration. Available in Podcast or MP4 (12.7MB) format on the Glacier National Park Science and Research Podcast Page (National Park Service )
It has been estimated that over 100,000 bats have died in the northeast due to a mysterious white fungus called White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). Scientists are discovering a large number of bats within caves and mines with a white fungus on their muzzles and other parts of their bodies. It is uncertain as to how this fungus is being transmitted and its long-term effects on North American bats. Bats are an important part of our ecosystem, yet there has been a decline in population. Scientists at the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Department of Health are "quite concerned about future effects on bat populations wherever environmental conditions are conducive to growth of the fungus. To manage and perhaps halt this disease, we have to first better understand it."
Read more about the White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) from the USGS Press Release (October 30, 2008).
The Wildlife Disease Information Nodeof the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) provides access to a variety of data on wildlife diseases, mortality
events, and other critical information contributed by partners from Federal and State agencies, as well as national, international, academic, research, and nongovernmental organizations.
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
White-Nose Syndrome in Bats in the Northeast - 
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