High up a coulee on the Montana prairie, Seth and Jennie Becker look over the windswept landscape with binoculars and point out three grizzly bear dens along the rim of a canyon.

The couple, who own Stick Leg Ranch, estimate there are eight grizzly bear dens nearby. After their nine-year-old nearly came face to face with a grizzly bear in the yard, the Beckers decided they needed to find a solution for coexisting with grizzlies.

Over the last decade, grizzly bears have been expanding further and further east onto the Montana prairie. For example, a grizzly bear was caught on game camera in the Upper Missouri River Breaks in October 2023, hundreds of miles from the grizzly recovery zones of the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems. It was the furthest east a grizzly bear had been seen in 100 years.

Scientists estimate 50,000 grizzlies historically roamed the Lower 48 states prior to 1800, their range stretching from California to Missouri, from the Canadian border to central Mexico.

By 1975, only 700 grizzlies remained, occupying 2% of their former range primarily in Yellowstone and Glacier National Park, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As a result, grizzly bears were listed as threatened and placed on the Endangered Species Act.

This dramatic population decline for grizzlies was due to the migration of European settlers into the Western US, heralded by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806. Similar to other prairie species like the buffalo and wolf, grizzly bears were targeted for safety concerns, market value, and the removal of predators to make way for livestock and agriculture.

Today, the US Fish and Wildlife estimates there are about 2,100 grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states. As the grizzly population has slowly grown, there have been ongoing debates as to whether grizzly bears have recovered and therefore should be removed from the Endangered Species Act in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Regardless of that debate, grizzly bears have been documented steadily moving east and recolonizing their historic habitat on the prairie since the early 2000s. Instead of hibernating in the mountains at 6,000 to 10,000 feet, they are beginning to hibernate and raise cubs on the prairie year round.

This unexpected expansion for one of North America’s most iconic and endangered species is fascinating and significant, but it also raises unique challenges for rural landowners, livestock producers, and wildlife managers.

As sightings increase, the prairie grizzly population can no longer be ignored or chalked up to solely adventurous wanderings by male bears. Little is known about these “prairie grizzlies”despite decades of sightings: there is no population estimate, they exist in a kind of geographic loophole, and they’ve received very little scientific study.

How are people, like the Beckers, adapting to grizzlies showing up in places they haven't occupied in 100 years? What tools are Tribes, grizzly bear specialists, or landowners using? What solutions, like livestock guardian dogs, electrification, or camera trap payment programs are emerging? What does coexistence or conflict between people and one of the most iconic species in North America look like?

Photojournalist John Stember has spent the last two years working on a photo essay attempting to tackle some of these questions. He continued to work on this visual project over the fall of 2025 through support from the Alexia Student Conservation Grant. Please email for inquiries.