Wanted: Grizzly bear conflict manager

This story was originally published by The Guardian and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

If you are fed up with your mundane desk job, aren’t bothered by austere conditions and have an affection for the hirsute, a potentially ideal new role has opened up in Montana: a grizzly bear conflict manager.

For a salary between $79,363 and $103,176, the U.S. government is offering one lucky applicant the chance to spend time in the Montana wilderness dealing with discord within the world of grizzly bears.

The disputes aren’t between ursine combatants themselves — although territorial quarrels do occur — but in the friction between bears and humans. While grizzly attacks on people are exceptionally rare, farmers can become agitated if a bear preys on livestock, while residents have raised concerns over bears tearing their way into their garbage, seeking tasty morsels.

The job, listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, involves managing a team of two to four, with tasks including “trapping, chemical immobilization, monitoring, conflict prevention and relocation efforts.”

The role can be based within 100 miles of Missoula, Bozeman or Kalispell in Montana, though the advert makes clear the successful applicant will not be spending much time in the “adequately lighted, heated and ventilated office” pondering the hefty delights of grizzly bears.

There is a “substantial” amount of fieldwork, involving walking in wet, rocky and otherwise harsh terrain, sometimes requiring the use of boats, small aircraft and all-terrain vehicles.

“Extended periods of camping in tents or cabins in remote field camps may occur,” the advert states, adding that a “variety of temperature and weather extremes may be encountered while in the field.”

“The incumbent may be subject to large numbers of biting insects and may be required to work in close proximity to large animals such as bear and moose,” the ad warns, adding the conflict manager may have to carry a gun for protection.

The applicant must be strong enough to lift a 50-pound weight, although directly grappling with a bear is not required or encouraged.

Grizzly bears are known for their humped shoulders and sheer bulk and can weigh up to 1,000 pounds. The creatures were once found throughout the U.S. west and into central Mexico but European colonization resulted in such rampant hunting and severe habitat loss that they now occupy just three per cent of that historic range.

Listed as an endangered species by the U.S. government, pockets of grizzly bears remain in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. In recent years, they have started to recover. As the bears have started to spread from these isolated populations, they have come into increasing contact with the growing human population in the U.S. west, particularly farmers and those living in small rural towns.

This has, on rare occasion, led to attacks on people, leading to calls from Republican legislators in Montana for the ban on hunting grizzlies to be lifted. The federal government has resisted such pressure, instead focusing on efforts to reduce conflict by encouraging better garbage storage, improved fencing around livestock and warning campers to not sleep with food in their tents.