Dave Garshelis BSG Co-chair & Asiatic Black Bear Expert Team Co-chair Email: dave.garshelis@state.mn.us Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Grand Rapids, MN, USA Phone: 1-218-328-8874 Dave is a Wildlife Research Scientist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR). Since 1983, as bear project leader for the MDNR, he has conducted population and ecological studies of American black bears across their geographic range in Minnesota, with direct application in management of the state’s bear population. He has also advised graduate students on studies of most of the other bear species of the world, aimed at improved conservation. Previously he studied black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains for his M.S. degree (University of Tennessee) and sea otters in Alaska for his PhD (University of Minnesota). His current interests are in monitoring trends of bear populations, discerning factors limiting population growth, and understanding ecological adaptations of bears, especially in human-modified environments or at the edge of their geographic range. He is currently involved in a study looking at the effects of bear bile farming on the conservation of wild bears, and projects on the interface of conservation and human-bear conflicts.