Essay Series | heybear-grizzlytimes

GRIZZLY TIMES ESSAYS

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Welcome to Grizzly Times’ new essay series! We launched this series to provide more detailed analyses than can be provided by blogs and other pages featuring grizzly-related topics that we care deeply about. At a time when the news media offers ever-briefer and more sensationalized coverage of complex environmental issues, we thought that now is important than ever to do the opposite: go deep. Recognizing that no writer is unbiased, we try to explain where we are coming from, and why. We also provide references so you can delve deeper into these topics on your own.

Please let us know what you think – and if you like them, we hope you will share with your friends!

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The Rhetoric of Denial

Grizzly Times Essays, Nos. 7 & 8

Climate Warming Denial and the Plight of Grizzly Bears

These timely essays written by David Mattson address not only the ways in which our climate crisis is affecting grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies, but also the social, political, and psychological mechanisms that lead people to deny the reality of anthropogenic climate change. These pathologies beset not only a distressingly large portion of the American public, but also taint the deliberations of government researchers and bureaucrats with authority over studying and managing grizzly bear populations in the contiguous United States. Those invested in denying climate warming are disproportionately ill-educated white males who not only affiliate with conservative ideologies, but also hunt. They are, moreover, especially vulnerable to the manipulations of subversive politicians and corporate elites who often hold sway over bureaucrats in charge of wildlife management agencies. Hunters and conservative politicians thus play an outsized role in configuring the perspectives and incentives of wildlife managers who, in turn, translate politically-charged denial of climate change into denials about not only the potential severity of climate impacts on bears, but also the very existence of anthropogenic climate change itself.

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Clan of the Whitebark Pine

Grizzly Times Essay, No. 1

Fighting for an Imperiled Forest

This essay by Louisa Willcox tracks the inspiring shared journey of researchers and citizen scientists in their efforts to protect the West’s iconic and imperiled whitebark pine forests—a journey that led the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2020 to propose protections for this species under the Endangered Species Act. Whitebark pine forests are unique because they create and maintain the high-elevation ecosystems where they grow—sustaining healthy watersheds and species as diverse as 600-pound grizzly bears and tiny voles. But whitebark pine are imperiled because of warming temperatures, a nonnative fungal pathogen, and an unprecedented outbreak of native mountain pine beetles. In response to an outbreak of beetles in Greater Yellowstone that began during the early 2000s, a group of concerned citizens and scientists surveyed the entire ecosystem to document the health of these forests, spread the word about why they matter, and inform a petition to list whitebark pine under the Endangered Species Act. At this time of unprecedented divisiveness and self-centeredness, the Clan of the Whitebark Pine showed what can happen when a group pulls together to pursue a larger, altruistic purpose – none more noble than protecting these magnificent but endangered forests.

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A Will to Dominate

Grizzly Times Essays, No. 2-5

Problems & Pathologies of State Wildlife Management

These timely essays by David Mattson use recent research into how people value wildlife to explore connections among values, hunting, state management, political orientations, geopolitics, and recent efforts by politicians from Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho to remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in the contiguous United States. The essays concludes by emphasizing the extent to which management of both grizzly bears and wolves occurs in a highly toxic regional environment typified by wildlife managers who channel the interests of conservative politicians and non-Hispanic white hunters who prize the domination and lethal use of wild animals. This configuration, codified in state institutions of wildlife management, mirrors the recent political empowerment of those who seek to perpetuate the privileged social and political status of non-Hispanic white men to the detriment of women, people of color, Hispanics, and people with more inclusive worldviews--all of whom are also currently disenfranchised from state management of wildlife.

A Grizzly Success

Grizzly Times Essay, No. 6

Grand Teton Matriarch 399 Inspires New Coexistence Partnership

This essay by Louisa Willcox recounts the history and lessons of an effort in Teton County, Wyoming, that successfully resulted in the implementation of county rules mandating that residents employ bear-resistant garbage containers and otherwise ensure that human-associated attractants such as bird feeders, pet food, and fruit on residential trees don't lead to conflicts with bears. A history of increasing conflicts between people and grizzly bears, many the descendents of Jackson Hole's famous matriarch 399, inspired local residents to create a grassroots movement promoting the passage of new county regulations. Their efforts were matched by the skill and expertise of local elected officials, support from local business-owners, and the expertise and funding of a local environmental group to create a powerful coalition. This case study highlights numerous key lessons, including the importance of motivated and visionary private citizens, supportive and skillful government officials, financial resources, engagement by an agile and courageous environmental group, and the importance of skillful, contextual messaging.