BSG Co-chair & Asian Brown Bear Expert Team Co-chair

Mike is an independent Canadian bear research ecologist. He completed his PhD in grizzly bear ecology in 2003. He currently researches and implements conservation solutions for small threatened brown bear populations that span the Canada-US border from southern British Columbia. The Trans-border Grizzly Bear Project is an international cooperative effort that uses DNA survey methods and GPS telemetry to identify broad and fine scale population fragmentation and connectivity solutions and assess and monitor population status. He is currently working to understand, predict, and spatialize the relationship between bottom up food resources and top down human-caused mortality forces on home range selection, habitat use, mortality, survival, density, and reproduction. His work also includes efforts to reduce bear-human conflicts. Mike is interested in translating sound scientific research on threatened bear populations into workable conservation solutions. He is a past IBA council member and VP. Beyond Canada, he has worked in international bear projects in Mongolia and Ecuador.