Meet the 2024 Grizzly Bear Crew!

By Cam McClelland

Welp! Here we are again. Field season. This year we have a whole new batch of field technicians roaming around the countryside. The first two weeks of May were spent training crews up so that we can perform our jobs safely and well. Since then, we have unleashed the field technicians onto the unsuspecting landscape with the singular goal of collecting the best data this side of the Athabasca. Crews will spend their summer plucking bear hairs off barbed wire, pouring unmentionable smells over vegetation, and getting their noses to the ground to better see what habitats favour grizzly bear plant-foods.

With no further ado here is the crew:

Talia Vilalta

Fun Fact: Wombats have their pouch facing backwards so dirt doesn’t go in when they are digging.

Song Recommendation: Counting Stars – One Republic


Kirsty McFayden

Fun Fact: Scotland’s national animal is a unicorn.

Song: Days like this – Van Morrison


Nola Sheets (left)

Fun Fact: Spirit bears are white black bears and they are 30% more successful at catching fish than black coloured bears as they can’t be seen as well.

Podcast: Water we doing? – David Evans

Olivia St Hilaire (right)

Fun Fact: Elk have vestigial ivory canines.

Podcast: The Wild – Chris Morgan


Emma Branicki (right)

Fun Fact: Xenopus frogs were used as an accurate pregnancy test in the 50’s.

Song: Dreams – Fleetwood Mac


Katelyn Grado

Fun Fact: Ponderosa pine smells like vanilla cake.

Song: Bobcaygeon – The Tragically Hip