IdAEP September Presentation: 'Recap the grizzly recovery work underway here in the states and compare it to ongoing work in Europe and Asia' by Gregg Losinski. 

About Gregg ...Losinski – say Low – sin – ski

In April of 2018, Gregg retired as the Regional Conservation Educator  (RCE) for the Upper Snake Region of the Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG) . He worked for the State of Idaho for almost 35 years, the last 25 at IDFG, the first 9 at Idaho State University.  He worked in the Upper Snake Region for over 20 years.                                                                                 

In addition to his job as RCE, he was very involved with grizzly bears. While in the Clearwater region he helped draft the grizzly bear recovery plan for the Bitterroot Ecosystem and worked on anadromous fish issues. He was part of the team of agencies that worked to delist the grizzly bear in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, and was in charge of the committee that handled all the information and education work for grizzly bears in the lower 48 states and adjacent Canadian provinces.

For over a decade, he has been helping to help keep brown bears in the Carpathian Mountains of Slovakia from getting into trouble with people by hosting educational programs and helping to modify trash containers so bears can’t break in.  He still serves as an advisor to the Slovak Wildlife Society and regularly advises the Slovak Government Bear Management Team. In Fall of 2016, he served as an Environmental Science Education Fulbright Specialist at Matej Bel University in Slovakia , spending six weeks teaching on wildlife issues and helping to track brown bears and wolves.  He returned on a Fulbright to do similar work in 2018.  In November of  2017, he was brought to Japan by the Japanese Parks Foundation to teach WILD About Bear Workshops to teachers and lecture the public about Grizzly Bear Management and the North American Model of Wildlife Management.  He has been invited to return once travel is allowed. Planning is also underway for another Fulbright project involving humans and bears, possibly to Romania, home to over 10,000 brown bears.

Gregg grew up in Illinois and was very involved in Boy Scouts.  He went to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and earned a bachelor’s degree in Scientific Land Management and went on to work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the National Park Service.  He worked for Idaho State University and received a master’s degree in education

before joining IDFG.  In 2017, he was a part of the first cadre of the Master Public Information Officer Program of the Emergency Management Institute sponsored by FEMA/DHS.  He still teaches PIO courses for the Idaho Office of Emergency Management and serves as a PIO for the Eastern Idaho Fire Center when needed.

He is married and has three grown sons. His hobbies are brewing beer and cross-country skiing. He has been a monthly contributor to Idaho Falls Magazine for over a decade.