With nearly 300 grizzly bears, Glacier National Park is home to the highest density of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. Add in about 600 black bears and nearly 3 million human visitors per year, and the stage is set for a challenging management situation.
Glacier has risen to the challenge and has one of the most successful bear management programs in the world. Visitor injury rates and property damage rates are exceedingly low and declining. Property damage claims are nearly non-existent; furthermore, levels of human-caused bear mortality are also low. On average, less than one bear per year is removed due to management concerns.
But this sterling record of success does not come without cost. The bear management fund, established in 2016, provides funding for these expenditures, and also for emergency expenditures that cannot be made through normal NPS funding mechanisms.
