Yellowstone Bear Smart
Protecting people and bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
Our Mission
Bear Awareness Gardiner reduces human-grizzly conflict in and around the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem through education, practical prevention tools, and partnerships — with a primary objective of creating safer communities for the people in the areas we work.
Why It Matters
When bears find food in town, everyone loses. The caloric reward from human food sources — unsecured trash, fallen fruit, pet food, chicken coops, bird feeders — is far greater than anything bears find in the wild. Once a bear discovers a food source near homes, it returns again and again.
Eventually, wildlife officials have no choice but to remove a food-conditioned bear from the landscape. Securing attractants is the most effective thing any of us can do to prevent that outcome — protecting people, property, and the bears that make this place wild.
