Grave Creek PROJECT BRIEF

Glacier National Park and its surrounding wildlands, known collectively as the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, are home to the Lower 48’s largest grizzly population at over 1,100 bears. Just west of the park, the Whitefish Range marks the western edge of the ecosystem. If a bear, wolf or other wide-ranging animal continues moving west out of those mountains, they enter a complex patchwork or land ownerships and uses.

The Grave Creek drainage serves as a major wildlife movement area on the west side of the Whitefish Range. Vital Ground and landowners Greg and Lisa Levine are helping ensure it remains open for wildlife travel by completing a conservation easement on the Levines’ land in the drainage.

A mix of forest, meadow and wetlands, the project site keeps open the potential for increased movement by bears from the larger NCDE population to the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem farther west in Montana, where an estimated 50 grizzlies endure. Read more…