News and Notes (YS-26-1)

Bigelow Presented with Career Acheivment Award by Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society

Pat Bigelow, Yellowstone National Park Fisheries Biologist, was honored by the Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society in 2018 for her career achievements in fisheries science.

The text excerpts below were written by her nominators, a group of peers, collaborators, and mentees.

“We are delighted to nominate Pat Bigelow for the Career Achievement Award. Pat grew up in Vermont on a dairy farm where her parents Don and Margaret instilled the work ethic that Pat has carried through her career and life...Pat has been an excellent supervisor, biologist, mentor, friend, pie baker...Pat’s understanding of the Yellowstone Lake ecosystem, and constant collaboration with researchers and other park staff is a driving force behind higher catch rates each year. Her happy demeanor is a major factor in fostering relationships with the many divisions in the Park.”

Gunther Given Director’s Award for Natural Resource Management

In October, Kerry Gunther was awarded the 2017 Regional Director’s Award for Natural Resource Management in the Intermountain Region.

This award acknowledged the significant contributions Kerry made towards conservation and recovery of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. His efforts to reduce human-bear conflicts and human-causes of bear mortality, have increased human safety in bear country.

Kerry Gunther is the Bear Management Biologist for Yellowstone National Park and a member of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He has worked in grizzly bear and black bear research, monitoring, and conflict management in Yellowstone National Park for 33 years. His interests include the conservation of bears and finding practical solutions for reducing bear-human conflicts.