Jennifer Kardiak - In-Field Manager Anan Creek, USFS
As a lifelong bear enthusiast, she’s thrilled to work for the US Forest Service in Wrangell, Alaska as the in-field manager of Anan Wildlife Observatory, overseeing this unique spot where black and brown bears feast on salmon. In college, she studied animal behavior, focusing on polar bears at the Central Park Zoo and brown bears at the Bronx Zoo. However, she didn’t encounter bears in the wild until doing shorebird surveys in Alaska’s Arctic, which sometimes involved dodging curious brown bears. She continued her education of these magnificent creatures with bear-viewing trips (Hallo Bay, Pack Creek) and by working at Mendenhall Glacier (black bears) and Pack Creek (brown bears). Anan's mix of black and brown bears is a dream come true for studying their fascinating differences. Recently, she was one of the few chosen to receive a special access permit to McNeil River. Experiencing McNeil's successful program firsthand will allow her to use that knowledge to ensure Anan remains an amazing wildlife experience.
Kate Kendall - Research Ecologist at Ursine Ecological. USGS retired
Kate Kendall has spent her career studying grizzly bear and black bear ecology as a research scientist for the US Geological Survey and the National Park Service. After working in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as a member of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, she went on to lead projects investigating grizzly and black bear populations in the northwest Montana and Cabinet/Yaak Mountains in Northern Idaho. She served the International Bear Association as Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, and Council Member and as Associate Editor of its peer-reviewed journal, Ursus. As a founding member of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation and long-time board member, she has promoted the conservation of this keystone species throughout North America. As a member of the IUCN’s North American Bear Expert Team, she helps promote the conservation of bears and their natural habitats world-wide. She works to safeguard wild lands and pristine rivers by serving on the Board of Wild Montana.
Anne Braaten - Bear Management Biologist, North Cascades National Park (retired)
Anne has recently retired from a 37-year career with the National Park Service. For almost 33 of those years she served as the bear management biologist for North Cascades National Park in north-central Washington. The decision to restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades was made three months after she arrived at the park. Two months later she was selected to chair the interagency team of biologists tasked with writing the recovery plan for the ecosystem. The Plan was signed in 1997. An Environmental Impact Statement to assess how to restore grizzly bears would not begin until 2014 – only to be halted in 2017 and shelved in 2018. It was restarted in 2022 and finalized in April of 2024, two months before her retirement.
In the meantime, Anne developed a bear management program for the park: really, managing people’s impact on black bears. This included the installation throughout the park of wildlife-resistant lockers for storing bear attractants, instituting bear education for the staff and through them, the public - and most riveting to all who think working with bears in a national park is necessarily exotic – doing in-depth research into bear-resistant dumpsters. In the process of all of this she became very fond of, and respectful of, black bears’ minds and resiliency.
In anticipation of a possible return of grizzly bears to the Cascades, and in aid of working for black bears, Anne introduced the state to the use of Karelian Bear Dogs for the aversive conditioning of bears when human management fails. The program gained traction with the state wildlife agency and several handler-dog teams were formed in western Washington. Anne also pushed for some methods then new to and not accepted by the park, for searching for evidence of grizzly bears: hair snagging and the use of dogs for locating scat samples for DNA analysis. Neither method was successful but paved the way for acceptance of non-invasive sampling for a spectrum of species in the park.
Retirement planning is still in the works, this trip to Southeast being a first celebration. Anne lives in Sedro-Woolley, Washington.
John Hechtel - President of the International Bear Association, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (retired)
John has a master’s degree in wildlife biology from the University of Montana, and has worked on bears for over 45 years. John worked for 28 years at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, primarily on grizzly and black bears which included 8 years as Regional Refuge Manager for Southcentral Alaska (including managing staff and programs at Wolverine Creek and McNeil bear viewing areas), and 2 ½ years as the bear biologist for Yukon Territory.
John also has consulted for and advised private industry and state and federal agencies on bear issues. He has done extensive lecturing and training. His primary interests and experience include bear behavior, bear attacks and safety, bear viewing, human-bear conflicts, bear management, hazing and aversive conditioning, and conservation.
John has been a field assistant and technical consultant on several bear films for National Geographic, BBC, and Discovery Channel. As a founding member of the non-profit Safety in Bear Country Society of Canada, John and 4 Canadian bear specialists co-wrote and produced a series of 4 bear safety videos including “Staying Safe in Bear Country,” which is available to stream on the IBA bearbiology YouTube channel.
John now volunteers at non-profits and is currently President of the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA), the professional association of biologists working on the conservation of the world's 8 bear species. He is also a member of the IUCN Bear Specialist Group’s Human-Bear Conflict Expert Team and serves on the Board of Vital Ground Land Trust.
He lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Elizabeth Graham PHD - Elizabeth joined the Forest Service in 2012 and has served as the entomologist in Southeast Alaska ever since. Her main focus is on monitoring forest pests and their impacts on the forest. Often accused of rooting for the insects, Elizabeth tries to teach the public the importance of insects in the forest. Prior to coming to Alaska she worked with Michigan State University and the Northern Research Station in East Lansing, Michigan studying chemical communication in wood boring beetles.
* Please see "schedule" page to view * Symposium times and locations
2024 Bearfest Presentations