Dear Editor: Montana Climate Matters

Dear Editor,

Ecologists understand that each species occupies a 'niche' in the environment where the right living conditions (defined by temperature and moisture), resources (including food, water, and shelter), and lack of competition from other species allow populations to survive and reproduce. Plants grow where conditions are right, and animals depend upon plant communities to provide food and shelter.

A niche is a 'space' in the world that a species has adapted to over its whole history. Grizzly bears now mostly live in the mountains where they find what they need and are not killed by hu...