Crown of the Continent: Wildlife at the Edge of Town
Near Whitefish, Montana
The country around Whitefish is some of the most ecologically complete in the contiguous United States. Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex to the south, and the Whitefish Range to the west together form part of what conservation biologists call the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, a connected landscape of protected and public land centered on Glacier and extending across the international border into Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park. The region is one of the few places in the lower forty eight states where nearly all the species that were present before European contact are still present today.
That means grizzly bears, which live in the Whitefish Range and regularly come into contact with the town. It means mountain lions, wolves, wolverines, and the full suite of native ungulates: elk, moose, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, and white-tailed deer. The grizzly bear in particular has become a symbol of the ecosystem's health.
Glacier is home to several hundred grizzly bears, one of the densest populations in the lower forty eight states. Their presence means that Whitefish, like every community in this valley, has had to think carefully about how a growing resort town and wildlife habitat interact. Bears are drawn to garbage, to bird feeders, to fruit trees in backyards.
The town has ordinances about food storage and wildlife attractants that residents and visitors are expected to follow. Living in grizzly country is not simply a scenic backdrop. It is a daily management decision that shapes how the community operates.
