Yellowstone National Park

In a news release Tuesday Yellowstone officials say a park wildlife biologist on a tracking flight spotted the first grizzly to emerge from hibernation.

Year-end data from Yellowstone National park show visitation in 2022 was down about a third from 2021, the park’s busiest year on record.

The move was the single largest transfer under the Bison Conservation Transfer Program, which relocates Yellowstone bison to Native American tribes around Montana and the country.

Following a Helena judge’s ruling last month, Montana’s wolf hunting and trapping seasons are underway with looser regulations. But two conservation groups say their lawsuit against Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is far from over.

When 41 wolves were relocated from Canada into Yellowstone National Park, wildlife biologist Ed Bangs and his team were responsible for delivering the wolves. Yellowstone’s senior wolf biologist Doug Smith was on the receiving end.YPR's Orlinda Worthington spoke with them about wolves, politics and retirement.

A Helena judge on Tuesday dissolved a temporary restraining order that lowered some wolf hunting and trapping limits.

The order also temporarily prohibits the use of snares and lowers the bag limit to bring 2022-2023 regulations closer to the regulations in play before the Montana Legislature passed a suite of laws increasing the number of wolves hunters and trappers can kill.

A new report says glaciers in a third of UNESCO World Heritage sites will disappear. Two-thirds of glaciers in the heritage sites can be saved — but only if carbon emissions are cut quickly, it says.

Four months after damaging floods hit south-central Montana, Gardiner’s connection to Yellowstone National Park was restored this weekend.