GBOP

Grizzly Mountain Roadsign

Posted: by cmorgan


I ran across this road sign across from Grizzly Mountain on a trip through the North Cascades recently. I was on my way to Montana on my motorcycle, traversing some of the most beautiful wild areas in North America, on my way to a grizzly bear management meeting near Missoula. I’ve passed the Highway 20 road sign near Mazama on many occasions during my work with GBOP, but this time I was compelled to stop and take a picture. It’s a strange thing to think that these mountains once supported a healthy population of North Cascades grizzly bears. Trapping records show that there were once probably hundreds, if not thousands of grizzly bears in this region. In fact almost 4000 hides were shipped out of the region over a 30 year period in the late 1800s. Now fewer than 20 North Cascades grizzly bears remain – in an area covering 10,000 square miles. Interestingly, the last legally killed grizzly bear was shot less than 25 miles from this road sign in the late 60’s.

But times are changing. From what we have heard over the last 5 years of GBOP, it’s clear that the people of Washington really do support the idea of grizzly bears returning to this ecosystem. Just about everyone we speak to across the Cascades agrees that there is room for both humans and grizzly bears on this landscape. Our most recent research shows that 79% of people “support recovery” – 54% of them “strongly”.

In addition, 82% of respondents thought that the grizzly is a symbol of the American frontier and that it should be preserved as part of our national heritage. I think about that tone in a week that has been very patriotic, and it seems fitting that most people in this amazing state want to see a future for grizzly bears beyond a name on a road sign, or the peak of a mountain.

Submitted by Chris Morgan, GBOP Director

Intestines, the Bear Facts

Posted: by wgardner

Many people have seen bear scat; whether it is in pictures, at a zoo or in the wild, it is usually very apparent what the bear had been eating. So how does the food get from one end of the bear to the other?


The teeth start the breakdown process of the food the bear eats. They use their teeth to hold, tear and grind food before swallowing it.

Bears have 42 teeth, except for the sloth bear that only has 40. Humans have 32 teeth.

The dental formula is:
I=3/3, C=1/1, P=3/3,M=1/2 total teeth =42
(Incisors-canines-premolars-molars)

Bears are omnivores that have relatively unspecialized digestive systems similar to those of carnivores. The primary difference is that bears have an elongated digestive tract; an adaptation that allows bears more efficient digestion of vegetation than other carnivores (Herrero 1985). Unlike ruminants, bears do not have a cecum and can only poorly digest the structural components of plants (Mealey 1975). To compensate for inefficient digestion of cellulose, bears maximize the quality of vegetal food items ingested, typically foraging for plants in phenological stages of highest nutrient availability and digestibility (Herrero 1985).

It is thought that the barrel shape of the bear’s body is an indication of a long intestine. Brown bears do have a longer intestinal length than that of a black bear.


Different foods take varying amounts of time to pass through the body. Meat takes about 13 hours while clover takes about 7 hours (Pritchard and Robbins, 1990). Berry seeds pass through unbroken and are able to geminate making bear’s great seed dispersers. Nutrients are also put back into the environment as the feces break down.

These are just two reasons bears are very important to the health of the environment.

Wendy Gardner, GBOP Bear Specialist
photo credit: Dennis Ryan, person belonging to the hat was not eaten
graphic credit:(Clemens 1980; Stevens & Hume 1995)

Grizzly attitudes in Montana

Posted: by gmacd_admin

I just returned from western Montana, where I appeared several places to promote my new book: Grizzly Wars: The Public Fight Over the Great Bear.

I found that local attitudes toward grizzlies differed depending on where I was. In the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula, where grizzlies have been absent for years, a resident of Salmon, just across the border in Idaho, described the stormy public hearing eight years ago over reintroducing grizzlies into the Bitterroots. The mayor warned wildlife officials at the hearing that he would charge them with murder if anyone around Salmon was killed as a result of bringing back the bears.

In Hamilton, unofficial capital of Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, locals told me that grizzly opponents are still vocal, yet a silent but growing majority supports reintroduction. New residents from California and elsewhere. I was told, are moderating local attitudes.

A woman from Helena who likes to hike told me that she doesn’t stay home because of grizzlies. She does not hike alone, but she and her friends hike all the time in grizzly country, and they don’t wear bells or shout to avoid surprise encounters.

In Butte, a man told me that he thought the biggest problem in managing grizzlies was “too many people.”

The clearest message came from a newspaper reporter I met with in Kalispell. He’s been covering public land and wildlife issues for many years, spends a lot of time in the hills, and regularly reports in the local paper on grizzly bear news. Sitting between the Cabinet-Yaak and Northern Continental Divide grizzly bear recovery areas, Kalispell is familiar with grizzlies. “I know a lot of rednecks around here and none of them complain about grizzlies,” he says. “If a grizzly gets into someone’s chicken coop or whatever, it makes for some good bar talk, but that’s all.” He was surprised to hear about anti-bear attitudes elsewhere. “You’ll see bumper stickers that say ‘Kill Wolves’, but I’ve never seen one about grizzlies.” he insists. “They’re just part of the terrain.”

submitted by David Knibb, author
Grizzly Wars: The Public Fight Over the Great Bear

“Bears move to town” follow up comments

Posted: by dryan

Related to the previous BLOG entry I found the following graphic in the most recent issue of High Country News interesting. This graphic is based on data from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Nevada Department of Wildlife.


Click on the above image to enlarge.

Of particular interest were the facts that bears weigh more in urban areas, and that their density per square mile is greater. For instance the density of bears in the wild is 3 per 38 square miles, but in urban areas their density was documented as 120 bears per 38 square miles. Also noted is a decrease in denning period from 100-150 days per year to 50-100 days per year in urban areas, which means that bears are out and about searching for food more of the year. Finally, the age that females first reproduce is reduced, and the numbers of cubs per birthing cycle is increased in urban areas. This increase in reproductive rate is a natural outcome of an abundant food supply – most wildlife will increase their reproductive rate when food supplies are good and reduce their reproductive rate during harder times.

This data points out a positive feedback loop that certainly we humans don’t want to promote. The fact that bears can access an abundant and easy food supply in and around residences not only contributes to challenging bear behaviors, but also increases their reproductive rate and densities. All of this is another indicator of the need to educate citizens, businesses, schools and governmental organizations to make bear attractants inaccessible.

Unfortunately, however, it only takes a few people to contribute significantly to the food conditioning of bears, and not infrequently those that contribute most to the problem are least inclined to change their behavior. Even in parts of Canada where Conservation Officers can fine people who leave non-natural foods accessible to wildlife, large numbers of bears are euthanized each year. So there is no easy answer, but certainly continued education about this issue is warranted.

Nan Laney
Skagit, Whatcom and Northern Snohomish Coordinator
Grizzly Bear Outreach Project (GBOP)

Bears abandon wilderness and move to the city

Posted: by dryan


Bears are deserting traditional mountain and forest ranges and moving into towns where they scavenge for food. This attraction to ‘fast food’ in urban areas is luring black bears in North America to an early death, scientists have found.

Why? So many young bears are killed in traffic accidents that it is threatening the viability of wild populations.

A 10-year study in the Sierra Nevada Mountains looked at the effects a landscape changed by human activity was having on the black bear (Ursus americanus). Led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) it looked particularly at whether exposure to humans and new food resources in the form of rubbish was affecting bear life history patterns.

Scientists followed 12 female bears in an urban environment and 10 females in wild land habitats from 1997-2006. All 22 bears were sexually immature females who could be followed through their life cycle.

The study, published in the Autumn 2008 issue of the journal Human-Wildlife Conflicts, had to be limited to 10 years because by then all the urban bears had been killed in traffic accidents while six of the bears still living in the wild survived. During the study the team handled a total of 43 female bear cubs and of those 28 (65 per cent) were dead before they reached 15 months of age.

Despite the bear being a protected species in Nevada, 89 bears were killed by vehicles, 27 by agency management actions for public safety, 17 for attacks on livestock, two due to illegal killing, and 16 due to other causes – such as being humanely put down because of their poor condition.

The study found that bears who lived in urban areas weighed an average of 30 per cent more than bears in wild areas due to a diet heavily supplemented by scavenged rubbish. As a result female bears give birth at a much earlier age – on average between four and five years old, compared with seven to eight years for bears in wild areas. Some urban bears around the Lake Tahoe area even produced young as early as two to three years of age.

The scientists concluded there had been a dramatic and rapid ecological shift of bears from the wild to urban areas in only 10 years to the extent that they found only one wild bear in the Carson Range outside the state capital of Carson City where historically they had always existed.

WCS researcher Jon Beckmann, the study’s lead author, said: “Urban areas are becoming the ultimate bear traps. Because of an abundant food source – namely garbage – bears are being drawn in from backcountry areas into urbanised landscapes where they meet their demise.”

The WCS is studying the effects of urban sprawl on a variety of wildlife and habitats in north America and is working with local authorities to increase the use of bear-proof rubbish containers and improve education efforts to reduce human-bear conflicts.

First published in the Telegraph. Read the full story.

Poor Huckleberry Crop May Lead to Fewer Bear Cubs Next Spring

Posted: by cmorgan

I’ve noticed while hiking in the high country this late summer and fall that something is notably missing – huckleberries. I’ve done a fair amount of hiking this year – on the PCT between Rainy Pass and the Canadian border, and closer to home on the northern and southern slopes of Mount Baker. Consistently I’ve seen small huckleberry crops in the alpine areas. I know the trails on the slopes of Mount Baker well, and my estimate is that the huckleberry crops there are 5-10% of a normal fall crop, depending on location. Aspect, shade / sun and soil are influencing factors in berry yields, but mostly the poor berry crop is a reflection of the late-arriving summer and unusual weather this year.

The fact that we are having a poor berry crop this year is contributing to increased human-bear conflicts in some instances. Bears are involved in something called “hyperphagia” in the late summer and fall. Hyperphagia is essentially a feeding frenzy to put on weight for the winter denning period. When food crops are scarce, such as they have been this year, bears can find human garbage, bird feeders, orchards and compost even more attractive than when there are good natural food supplies. In my experience the years with the most human-bear conflicts are the years when natural food supplies for bears are most limited.

A poor berry crop this year will result in some bears going into their dens under their ideal weight. For females who have been bred this summer who are underweight this may mean that they will come out of the den next spring without cubs. Bears have developed an evolutionary survival strategy called “delayed implantation.” What this means is that while breeding season is May through July, the fertilized egg is not implanted until the female goes into the den in October or November. If a bred female goes into the den in poor physical condition the fertilized egg(s) will not be implanted, but will instead by sloughed off, and she will come out of the den the following spring without cubs.

Polar bears will likely suffer the same fate as receding sea ice due to global warming inhibits their ability to hunt seals. This is their primary food source and will result in decreased denning wieghts.

Interestingly I’m taking a class at the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor to meet the continuing education requirements for my teaching certificate. Last week we had a guest speaker, Dr Joe Gaydos, a veterinarian who works for SeaDoc Society, come share information with us about Mustelids. (Mustilids are the largest family of carnivores and include river otter, sea otter, mink and about 60 other species.) I was fascinated to learn that many (maybe all) Mustelids also have delayed implantation. In the case of mink, fertilized eggs are not typically implanted until 30 days after breeding, and gestation is 27-33 days. Delayed implantation obviously has survival advantages or it would not have evolved, and I find it fascinating, amazing really.

Nan Laney, GBOP field coordinator

You make the call- Grizzly? or Black Bear?

Posted: by dryan

Each year a fair number of people report seeing a grizzly bear in the North Cascades. Some even take photos. Field biologists from the various agencies and non-profits examine these photos to try and determine if indeed they are grizzly bears or just large brown black bears.

You be the referree. These photos were all recently submitted with sighting reports.





So, what features make a big brown bear a grizzly? Black bears and grizzlies overlap in both size and color.

Grizzlies have a large, defined shoulder hump. A big block head with small looking ears. Large claws, very large indeed. A face profile that is dished.

Black bears have a small or no defined hump. Large ears compared to their head size. A long snout that has a face profile that is straight. Claws that are rather small.

Most folks do not want to go up to the bear and examine it’s claws. However a good track will tell you if the bear was a black bear or a grizzly.

Learn more at the GBOP website about identifying bears.

If you see a grizz, call 1.800.WOLFBEAR or report the sighting at the GBOP website.

Alas, none of these photos can be classified as a grizzly. Therefore, they are most likely large brown black bears.

NEW BOOK CHRONICLES EFFORT TO SAVE GRIZZLIES

Posted: by cmorgan


What does one do to save from extinction a creature as cantankerous and controversial as the grizzly bear? Do grizzlies still live in the North Cascades and what will it take to prevent them from dying out?

Grizzly Wars: The Public Fight Over the Great Bear, slated for publication in early October, examines these and many other questions about the contentious effort to recover grizzly bears in the Cascades and Northern Rockies, where they have been listed under the Endangered Species Act for more than 30 years.

Author David Knibb, a naturalist, lawyer, and author, shuns the role of an advocate to explain the issues. He uses the North Cascades to illustrate many of them — how recovery areas were picked, states rights, rural and urban conflicts, hiker anxieties, genetic concerns caused by isolation, minimum viable populations, and issues about moving bears from one area to another.

From the Cascades the book broadens to look at national wildlife politics and the five other recovery areas in the Northern Rockies. Knibb examines the key issues in each, including the debate over last year’s decision to remove Yellowstone’s grizzlies from the list of threatened species. In the process he discusses the critical role of states, the need for links between recovery areas, distinct populations, and cooperation with Canada on bears along the border.

In a separate chapter devoted to Canada, Knibb reviews the status and challenges facing grizzlies in British Columbia and Alberta.

In a foreword, Lance Craighead praises Knibb for reporting on such a controversial topic in a “careful and admirably unbiased” way. The book also earns praise from Doug Peacock, noted bear advocate, Brock Evans, president of the Endangered Species Coalition, and others.

For more description, see the publisher’s catalog at: http://ewupress.ewu.edu/nonfiction/Grizzlywars.htm.

After mid-October Grizzly Wars will be available in bookstores, or you can order it from Eastern Washington University Press at: http://ewupress.ewu.edu/howtoorder.htm

Dogs and People working Together to Save Bears

Posted: by wgardner


The Wind River Bear Institute (WRBI), together with its Partners-In-Life Program®, is an innovative program that is saving the lives of bears by changing the way they are managed and viewed by wildlife agencies and the public. The goal of this program is to reduce conflicts between humans and bears so the two can coexist in an ever shrinking world.

The WRBI uses knowledge of bear ecology and behavior to find solutions to human-bear conflicts and develop ways to prevent problems in the future. Most conflicts arise from bears getting human foods as well as pet food, livestock feed, bird seed and fruits from orchards. Bears that are habituated to people or are food conditioned are bears that have in most cases lost their fear of people; most attacks on humans have involved bears that were habituated or food conditioned.

Many people feel that “problem” bears should either be relocated or destroyed, but neither of these is a long term solution and both can be expensive and time consuming. Many “problem” bears that have been relocated return to where they were causing problems and end up being killed because the true problem, habituation and/or food conditioning, is not resolved.

Carrie Hunt, Director of the Wind River Bear Institute, developed and implemented what she calls Bear Shepherding®. This bear management technique uses Karelian Bear Dogs to teach bears how to recognize and avoid human boundaries.

Karelian Bear Dogs (KBD) originated in Finland where they were used mainly for hunting. They are extremely intelligent, fearless and have enormous energy making them a perfect match for the Partner’s In Life Program and for bear shepherding. KBD’s are a medium sized black and white dog that is very strong and muscular. They range in weight from 40-70 pounds and are 19-24 inches tall.

“The key components of the WRBI’s “Partners In Life Program” are that it emphasizes concurrent work on-site to teach people correct behaviors to reduce conflicts when living or recreating in bear country AND to rehabilitate and teach ”problem” bears correct behaviors on-site as well, through a non-lethal technique called Bear Shepherding®. This technique utilizes a strict protocol developed by WRBI to condition bears in the wild to modify undesirable behaviors that will lead to the eventual need to euthanize the bear, and as such, is the first of its kind. Bear Shepherding utilizes operant conditioning techniques where the bear learns to associate a human voice yelling “Get Out of Here Bear” with a painful or scary aversive stimulus causing it to leave or fade into cover as a wild bear should…. which teaches bears with problem behaviors to recognize and avoid human boundaries and developed sites. The Shepherding techniques teach the bears to control what happens by making correct choices. For example, when the KBDs “shepherd” a bear into appropriate cover or the bear otherwise leaves an area where it should not be, the Partners-In-Life team removes the “pressure” on the bear by recalling the KBDs. Bears may experience this training at the site of conflict or within areas they naturally inhabit, called their “home range.” This positive approach builds on the way bears operate and learn in the wild and uses their natural recognition of personal space and dominance hierarchies.

Since the Program began in 1996, several hundred bears and other wildlife conflicts have been handled annually by the Programs teams and extended Program “Family” of KBD/Handler teams. There have been no injuries to dogs, bears or handlers; a true testament to the commitment and training of both the WRBI teams and the dogs they work with.

The WRBI placed 2 of their KBD pups for use as Wildlife Service Dogs in Washington State. All dogs and owners are cared for, trained and handled, according to strict WRBI Program protocols to ensure safety and effectiveness for the Service Dog/Handler teams. The two Karelian Bear Dogs working in Washington State are both with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employees. “Mishka” works with Bruce Richards, Wildlife Law Enforcement Officer, and “Cash” works with Rich Beausoleil, Cougar and Bear Specialist.


Wind River Bear Institute is a 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation that relies on the generous support of private donors who believe in the value of their work.

Posted by Wendy Gardner; GBOP Bear Specialist, Woodland Park Zoo keeper

Berries, Berries and Bears

Posted: by dryan

Bears lose 30% to 40% of their body weight while hibernating. It’s important that they regain this weight before returning to the den in late fall. Mountain grizzlies and black bears rely on plants for a large part of their diet and it is during berry season that much of this weight gain is accomplished.

During spring and summer bears replenish their levels of protein, but it’s during late summer and fall that large doses of carbohydrates supply the weight gain necessary for winter survival.


The US Dept of Agriculture has analyzed the nutritional value of many foods. You can view this data at their site the Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. A quick look tells why berries are an excellent source of carbohydrates and why a good berry crop during the fall is so important to the bears. The following data for a few select foods is based on 100 grams of raw material.

• Spinach, a representative green leafy food, contains 23 kCal of energy, 2.86 grams of protein, .39 grams of fat and 3.63 grams of carbohydrates.

• Blueberries, more than twice the energy value and almost four times the carbohydrate level, contains 57 kCal of energy, .74 grams of protein, .33 grams of fat and 14.49 grams of carbohydrates.

• Insects, represent a significant protein source in the summer, contain 20.6 grams of protein, 6.1 grams of fat and 3.9 grams of carbohydrates.

• Salmon makes up a large portion of the Alaskan Brown Bear’s diet. Winter killed deer and elk are important protein sources when bears first emerge from the den. Salmon and venison, almost equal in nutritional value, contains 157 kCal of energy, 21.8 grams of protein, 7.13 grams of fat and 0 grams of carbohydrates. Just about what you get from an insect!

Notice that the food available in the wild does not contain high levels of fat. Fat is generated by the bears from consuming large amounts of carbohydrates.

Additionally, blueberries are rich in Vitamins A, C, E and beta-carotene as well as rich in the minerals potassium, manganese and magnesium. They are very high in fiber and low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. But this is just the tip of the nutritional iceberg, for recent studies tell us that of all fresh fruits and vegetables, berries provide the most health-protecting antioxidants, those valuable elements which prevent cancer-causing cell damage and may limit the changes wrought by age related diseases.