Yellowstone Grizzly Research Team Faces Major Cuts

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A legendary scientific team that saved Yellowstone's grizzlies faces possible dismantling as key researchers retire without replacements and their research facility heads for closure.

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The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, with over 50 years of expertise monitoring bear populations, stands on the brink of extinction itself due to federal cutbacks.

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"Without the study team, Yellowstone grizzlies will begin to spiral downward again," warns former recovery program leader Christopher Servheen after decades of successful conservation work.

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Mark Haroldson retired and team leader Frank van Manen left earlier than planned, leaving just four employees to monitor the approximately 1,000 bears in Greater Yellowstone.

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The Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Bozeman, home to crucial wildlife research beyond just bears, will soon close its doors as part of sweeping federal facility shutdowns.

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Scientists are fighting back, with 42 biologists petitioning Montana's congressional delegation to save the research center from what they call "unwarranted attacks."

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Critics blame the Trump administration and Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" for gutting wildlife research just as grizzlies face potential removal from endangered species protections.

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The Center for Biological Diversity has filed information requests to uncover the motives behind what they call "smashing decades of nonpartisan, collaborative research on imperiled grizzlies."

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