BNSF Donates Train Ride in Support of Grizzly Bear Preservation Efforts
Columbus Zoo Director Emeritus and celebrity TV personality Jack Hanna and his wife Suzi along with the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Foundation, BNSF Railway and the Great Northern Environmental Stewardship Area recently hosted a charity train ride to raise funds to support the grizzly bear management efforts in Montana. The grizzly bear has been listed as a threatened species since 1975, but today there are approximately 1,000 grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the grizzly population is growing at an estimated 3 percent annually.
Participants on the Grizzly Bear Charity Dinner Train were treated to presentations from Hanna and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks grizzly bear biologist Tim Manley. Hanna emphasized the practical and symbolic importance of preserving North America’s grizzly bear population, while Manley provided an overview of grizzly bear conservation work in northwest Montana and the cooperative efforts the state agency developed with BNSF and others through GNESA.
“Grizzly bear conservation and management in the railroad corridor between Glacier National Park and the Great Bear Wilderness has improved dramatically since the formation of the Great Northern Environmental Stewardship Area (GNESA),” said Jim Williams, FWP Wildlife Program Manager. “The formation of GNESA has resulted in improved communication and trust between BNSF and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and other agency and private partners.”
BNSF donated this charity business car trip as a fundraising event for GNESA and the Montana Outdoor Legacy Foundation in support of their grizzly bear preservation efforts. GNESA is a partnership of private landowners, citizens’ organizations, businesses, and government agencies establishing innovative stewardship practices in the corridor that bisects the natural lands of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and Glacier National Park. Learn more at www.gnsa.org
