Habitat
In Alaska, most common in open arctic, alpine tundra, grassland, and subalpine forests. Prefer open, shrub communities, alpine and low elevation meadows, riparian areas, seeps, alpine slabrock areas, and avalanche chutes (Willard and Herman 1977, Servheen 1983, Zager et al. 1983). In forests, typically occur near mountain meadows muskegs, sedge flats, and other grasslands (ADF&G 1973, Schoen and Gende 2007, NatureServe 2007b). Den sites are often on hillsides (MacDonald and Cook 2009). They typically choose low elevation riparian sites, wet meadows, and alluvial plains during spring (Willard and Herman 1977, Reichert 1989). During summer and fall grizzly bear more frequently use high elevation meadows, ridges, and open, grassy timbered sites (Servheen 1983, Reichert 1989).
References
ADF&G. 1973. Alaska’s wildlife and habitat. Anchorage, Alaska. 144 pp. + maps.
MacDonald, S. O. and J. A. Cook. 2009. Recent Mammals of Alaska. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, AK.
NatureServe. 2007b. NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 6.2. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available http://www.natureserve.org/explorer.
Reichert, C. 1989. Silviculture in grizzly bear habitat. In: Silviculture for all resources: Proceedings of the national silviculture workshop; 1987 May 11-14; Sacramento, CA. Washington, DC: USDA, USFS: 48-60.
Schoen, J. W. and S. Gende. 2007. Brown bear (Ursus arctos). In the coastal forests and mountains ecoregion of southeastern Alaska and the Tongass National Forest: A conservation assessment and resource synthesis (J. W. Schoen and E. Dovichin, eds.). Audubon Alaska and The Nature Conservancy, Anchorage, Alaska.
Servheen, C. 1983. Grizzly bear food habits, movements, and habitat selection in the Mission Mountains, Montana. Journal of Wildlife Management 47(4): 1026-1035.
Willard, E. E. and M. Herman. 1977. Grizzly bear and its habitat. Final Report, Cooperative Agreement between USDA, USFS, Region 1 and University of Montana, Montana Forest and Conservation Experiment Station. 28 p.
Zager, P., C. Jonkel, and J. Habeck. 1983. Logging and wildfire influence on grizzly bear habitat in northwestern Montana. In: E. C. Meslow, ed. 5th International conference on bear research and management; [Date of conference unknown]; Madison, WI. [Place of publication unknown]. International Association for Bear Research and Management: 124-132.
