Weekly Highlights

NOROCK Weekly Highlights are a non-technical summary of Center activities sent to the Department of Interior (DOI) Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, DOI Public Affairs Officer, Secretary of DOI, and the White House.

May 2012

I. Regional/National/Departmental/Bureau News

Upcoming

None

Current

Research Ecologist Frank van Manen will be taking over leadership of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, based out of the USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center. van Manen has been with Leetown Science Center’s Southern Appalachian Research Branch, located at the University of Tennessee and will join NOROCK in early June. van Manen is replacing Research Wildlife Biologist Emeritus Chuck Schwartz, who had served as study team leader since 1998 and retired in 2011.

Research Ecologist Erik Beever will present a talk at Montana Tech of the University of Montana on May 3rd in Butte, MT. His talk is entitled “Understanding the mechanisms governing relationships between mountain ecosystems, their wildlife, and climate”. (Erik Beever, 406-994-7670, ebeever@usgs.gov )

II. Science Center Work on Presidential Priorities
None

III. Notable Congressional Activity
None

IV. Press/Media Inquiries

Newspapers/magazines/wires, etc.

Research ecologist Clint Muhlfeld was interviewed by Tristan Scott of the Missoulian on April 30th. Muhlfeld discussed his recently published work examining the information that can be gathered from fish ear bones, a study recently featured in a USGS news release. The story was published on May 2nd. (Clint Muhlfeld, 406-600-9686, cmuhlfeld@usgs.gov)

Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Mark Haroldson was contacted by Kelsey Dayton with the Casper Star Tribune on April 27th. Haroldson discussed grizzly bear mortalities in 2011, bear mortality limits, population estimates, and the first indications that the grizzly population was leveling off in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The story was published on April 30th. (Mark Haroldson, 406-994-5042, mark_haroldson@usgs.gov)

Research Ecologist Dan Fagre was contacted by freelance writer Pete Fromm on April 25th. Fromm is writing a story for GEO magazine (France) on the shrinking glaciers of Glacier National Park. Fagre provided information on Grinnell Glacier and his team’s research on this topic. The date of the article is unknown. (Dan Fagre, 406-888-7922, dan_fagre@usgs.gov)

Broadcast and Film

Research ecologist Clint Muhlfeld was interviewed by Katryn Frye of MT Public Radio on April 27th. Muhlfeld discussed his recently published work examining the information that can be gathered from fish ear bones, a study recently featured in a USGS news release. The story will air Wednesday on the MT evening edition. (Clint Muhlfeld, 406-600-9686, cmuhlfeld@usgs.gov)

Upcoming News Releases

None

Other (forum meeting, press conference, media training, etc.
None

V. New Products

Saros, Jasmine E., Jeffery R. Stone, Gregory Thomas Pederson, Krista E. H. Slemmons, Trisha Spanbauer, Anna Schliep, Douglas Cahl, Craig E. Williamson, and Daniel R. Engstrom. In press. Climate-Induced Changes in Lake Ecosystem Structure Inferred from Coupled Neo- and Paleo-ecological Approaches. Ecology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/11-2218.1

Chong, G.W., and Allen, L.A., What are plants doing and when? Using plant phenology to facilitate sustainable natural resources management: WLCI Fact Sheet 3, 2 p. http://pubs.usgs.gov/wlci/fs/3/

VI. Center Achievement

None

VII. Current International Activity
None

VIII. Other

None




Past reports available upon request.