Jessica's Story
My name is Jessica Hadley, and I am the Photographer and Director of Keeping Bears Wild. For me, this is a deeply personal story tied to my experience working in Yosemite and my family’s history in the park. This project is something I have been working towards for my entire career as a visual storyteller and bear specialist.
My connection to Yosemite starts with my parents who met in the park in the late 1980s. My dad worked as a revegetation specialist on the Yosemite Subalpine Revegetation Program and the 1987 Stoneman Meadow Restoration Project. Meanwhile, my mom worked for the Yosemite Institute and as an Interpretive Ranger. They eventually got married on the edge of Cook's Meadow, the same meadow where I participated in my first bear capture twenty-two years later.
I grew up visiting Yosemite and other National Parks often thanks to my parents. I developed a deep interest in wildlife and the outdoors at an early age. In high school I began to explore that interest through art and photography, starting with macro photographs of nature.
During my first year of college, after hearing about Yosemite’s bear program from my Dad, I decided to apply for a bear technician position. I was fascinated by the story of my Dad helping to trap a bear in Yosemite and I wanted to know more.
Jessica and another park employee descend from the summit of Mount Dana. Yosemite National Park 2015.
By some miracle, during the summer of 2014 I found myself heading to Yosemite National Park to work with bears for the National Park Service and the Student Conservation Association. I quickly became passionate about bears and helping people learn how to coexist with them while visiting the park. The three years I spent working in Yosemite with the bear program changed my life. I learned that managing bears is not just about the bears, it’s about the people too.
I started working with grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 2018. Working with bears in Yellowstone helped to improve my skillset as a bear specialist tremendously. Additionally, after observing human-wildlife interactions in the parks on an almost daily basis, I started to document these behaviors through my photography. This eventually lead to my photography project Modern Day Impacts. Modern Day Impacts brought my mind back to my roots in bear management in Yosemite National Park.
When considering the effort that goes into preventing human-bear conflict, Yosemite's Bear Team stands out. The story of Yosemite's bears is one I have been hoping to tell because of its people. Working in Yosemite under biologists, Caitlin and Katie, gave me a boost in confidence that I don’t think I could have found any other way. The large carnivore field is very male dominated and it was a privilege to start my career working under and learning from these two incredible women. I am grateful to now be able to share their story with other young women and girls through Keeping Bears Wild.
Yosemite's Bear Team with a truck full of apples picked from the Curry Orchard parking lot. Yosemite National Park August 2017.
Jessica Hadley works on a young anesthetized grizzly bear for research purposes. Photo by F. T. van Manen/USGS
Today, I have ten years of experience working with bears in the mountain west. It is because of my experience working with bears that I understand just how important storytelling is to creating change. It is my hope that this project will allow Yosemite’s Bear Management program to further reach visitors, future biologists, and people living with bears. I hope you will stick around to support us during this project and that you enjoy its final results.
Thank you,
Jessica Hadley
Some of Jessica's work on human-wildlife interactions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is included below. You can view more here.
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