GBOP

Wild Bee Swarm

Posted: by dryan


We all know that bears like honey. Winnie the Pooh was addicted to the stuff. Bears get their honey from wild bee hives or by raiding a bee keepers’ hive. Bee keepers can protect their hives from bears by surrounding them with electric fencing.

Wild bees live in hollow trees. From time to time the hive will develop a new queen bee which will then take about half of the hive with her when she decides to relocate, leaving the others behind. She takes off in search of a new home and the bees follow her. When she stops the hive swarms around the queen to protect her. It can be a disconcerting sight to see a swarm of bees making a beeline for a new place to live! The above photo was taken at a camp site in Pearrygin Lake State Park near Winthrop in the Methow Valley. Fortunately no bears were following this swarm. Normally honey bees are somewhat docile when they swarm, but the best action is to remain cautious and stay away from them. 

A local bee keeper with the proper safety equipment was called in by the park ranger to remove the hive. He placed a box below the swarm and shook the tree causing the queen to fall onto the top of the box. All the other bees followed her into the box. The bees had a new home and the keeper got a new hive.

6th Graders, Bears and Camp

Posted: by dryan


What do these three things have in common? Why Camp ‘D’ of course. For over 50 years the sixth grade class at Omak middle school has spent a week at Camp Disautel in the forests of the Colville Reservation. For the first time the 6th graders at the Paschal Sherman Indian School attended the camp.


It’s not all fun and games. They spend a lot of time attending seminars to learn about stewardship of the environment. Issues explored include water conservation, soil management, wilderness safety and survival skills, creating a ‘Leave No Trace’ camp and ‘yuk’- noxious weeds. Last but not least they learn about bears of the North Cascade Ecosystem.

Bears use to be common visitors at the camp before attention was placed on removing garbage daily. There were some pretty exciting moments when bears walked thru the camp to raid the lunch leftovers.


Virginia Hammer involved all the kids in a skit to show how ‘not’ to set up a camp in the woods. She is a back country ranger for the Okanogan National Forrest. One student dressed as a bear and raided the campsite at night. The campers wished they had not left food in their tent.

Many past 6th graders who are now adults remember Camp ‘D’ as one of the highlights of their school experiences. Many thanks to Randy Langseth and the other teachers for inviting GBOP to this year’s camp.

Hillspring Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Released 4 Grizzly Cubs-Dawon Creek, BC

Posted: by cmorgan

Following is an extract from a website update written by Barb Murray at http://bearmatters.com.

History was ‘officially’ made on Weds, May 16, 2007! A North American bear rehabilitor, Leona Green, has successfully raised 4 orphaned grizzly cubs (2 female), taking them from 15-20lbs in July ‘06 to their release weight of well in excess of 100lbs. The bigger size for their age class will give the cub’s a fighting chance with preditory carnivores. The cub’s diet consisted of high protein from donated venison and salmon, grains, veggies and fruit ( including natural berries previously picked and frozen). Leona Green has raised and released two female grizzlies in 1996 but they were not officially counted by the authorities at that time.

Grizzly bear rehabilitation is done in other parts of the world like Russia and Romania but North American authorities have been shy to embrace it for ‘liablity’ reasons ( I believe?). Thanks to some progressive and compassionate Conservation Officers in Northern BC Leona Green was able to help give these four cubs plus two black bears a second chance this year. She has now rehabbed over 100 bears successfully over 30years (not one of the bears have shown up and caused problems).

Bear Affair Weekend

Posted: by dryan


Woodland Park Zoo and GBOP hosted what is quickly becoming an annual event anticipated by both patrons of the zoo and the bears that live there. Keema and Denali, both 950 pound Brown (Grizzly) Bears put on quite a show. With donated equipment from REI, the zoo staff, GBOP and invited members of the public set up a campsite in the bear compound. Everything was done incorrectly to demonstrate what bears can do to your camp if you leave food nearby or worse yet, in your tent.


The bears went thru the camp systematically looking for and finding all of the hidden treats.


In about the same time as it takes to set up camp, the bears had completely demolished everything. People watching the camp destruction quickly understood the value of setting up a proper camp.


Over 2,000 people visited the Bear Affair activities. Everyone enjoyed themselves, but no one had as much fun as Keema and Denali. You can check out a You Tube video of the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CARM1-ZQYb4.

The GBOP website has lots of tips for living and camping in bear country: http://www.bearinfo.org/tips.htm.

Photo credits by Dennis Ryan and Wendy Gardner

Back Country Horsemen Spring Ride

Posted: by dryan


Each spring members of the Back Country Horsemen of Washington get together at Beaver Creek campground in the Methow Valley to spend a weekend of riding, socializing and general togetherness. This year was no exception. Over 300 folks camped out and had a great time. The official Saturday ride attracted 270 horses and their riders for an eleven mile round trip. A stop at the midway point allowed horses to rest and riders to enjoy a catered steak dinner hosted by the Methow Chapter of the BCH. There are 36 chapters with over 3,000 members in Washington State.


After the ride the care of the horses are the top priority. Kids learn this at an early age. The event was also an opportunity for GBOP to hand out material and discuss bear safety in the back country. If you spend much time in the woods you are likely to encounter bears sooner or later. Back Country Horsepeople share the wilderness that bears call home. The proper safety tips can mean the difference between a fun bear experience and a person-bear conflict.


Looking back on the weekend most of use can’t wait till next year.

First Tuesday Presentation

Posted: by dryan

The Methow Conservancy invited GBOP to give a presentation entitled “Bears of the North Cascades and Beyond” at their April First Tuesday event held at the Twisp River Pub. The house was packed as the lights went down and Mary Kiesau introduced Chris Morgan and Dennis Ryan from GBOP.

Chris shared his experiences traveling the world to study bears. From Norway to the Andes, Pakistan to the Rocky Mountains, the audience took a virtual tour of the global state that bears find themselves in today’s gloal warming trend.

Dennis followed that act up with a discussion of bears of the North Cascade Ecosystem. Do they indeed exist? What are their numbers, habits and habitat? How can this habitat be protected and the declining number of North Cascade Grizzlies be recovered to a viable population?

A hearty discussion followed the presentation. Obvisouly the public was informed and intested in the plight of Washington’s bear population. Many thanks to the Methow Conservancy for hosting the presentation.

Wildlife Highway Crossings

Posted: by dryan

Hidden cameras let you spy on animals as they go about their business.

Dr. Tony Clevenger of the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University has research video cameras that record the passage of a variety of large mammals using Banff National Park’s wildlife crossing structures under the TransCanada Highway. To view video clips of grizzly bear, black bear, mountain lion, elk and deer go to this website:


http://www.coe.montana.edu/wti/road_ecology/whats%20new.php

The Washington Department of Transportation has future plans to build wildlife under passes on I-90 in the North Cascades area.

REI bear hugs GBOP

Posted: by dryan


Yes, REI has embraced GBOP. Over 140 people gathered at REI recently to listen to a presentation by Chris Morgan, co-director of GBOP.

Chris has traveled the world in search of Brown Bears (aka Grizzly Bears) and the study of the habitats in which they live. His slide show was a virtual feast of wild bears in wild places. From Spitsbergen to Spain, Canada to Russia, bears rule the wilderness. Yet, without exception their habitats are threatened by development and encroachment. Looming on the horizon is the mother of all threats – GLOBAL WARMING. In Spain the bears are not hibernating. In the artic bears rely on sea ice to hunt their major source of food, the seal, and this ice is receding further and further north with each passing year. Soon the sea ice is predicted to disappear entirely in the summer months.

Thinking globally and acting locally has never been more relevant. In the North Cascades ecosystem grizzly bears have declined to the point that less than 20 survive. This is not a population that is likely to survive without help. The North Cascades was designated a grizzly bear recovery zone in 1983 by the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. After the presentation, the audience had many questions concerning recovery plans for North Cascade grizzlies.

GBOP thanks REI for their support in our continuing education programs and for their sponsorship of bear awareness weekends. Mark your calendar for April 21 and 22 to join us at the Woodland Park Zoo where the resident brown bears will be the center of attraction.

Photo credit Dennis Ryan

No rest for the weary

Posted: by dryan


Did you know that bears are an umbrella species? The health of a bear population is a reflection of the health of the ecosystem in which they live. Did you know that bears hibernate throughout the winter? Talk about a good nights sleep! Did you know that bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain? This may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.

In a December in which bumblebees, butterflies and even swallows have been on the wing in Britain, European brown bears have been lumbering through the forests of Spain’s Cantabrian mountains, when normally they would already be in their long, annual sleep.

Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen weather makes food too scarce to find. The barely breathing creatures can lose up to 40 per cent of their body weight before warmer springtime weather rouses them back to life.

Please Click here to read the complete article.

Why do we care about sleeping bears? Besides the fact that we might globally warm ourselves right out of existence, unlocking the secrets of hibernating grizzlies may help people live longer and stay healthier.

Mike Stark writes in the Billings Gazette that researchers for years have been trying to understand how the bears survive such a long, slothful period without suffering lasting ill effects.

In particular, scientists are looking at what the napping bears can teach about staving off heart disease, extending the viability of transplant organs and maintaining muscle tone in bedridden patients or astronauts in space.

Much of the research is happening at Washington State University, where 10 captive grizzly bears, some of them from the Northern Rockies, are studied year-round.

How global warming affects Polar Bears

Posted: by cmorgan


Yes, this is a grizzly bear blog, but did you know that polar bears are very closely related to grizzly bears? They have evolved from brown/grizzly bears only over the last 250,000 years to become one of the most perfectly adapted creatures on the planet.

I guide expeditions to the far north each year to the Norwegian arctic islands of Svalbard – just 600 miles from the north pole. It’s an incredible landscape – surely one of the most beautiful in the world. But the most special thing about this isolated jewel is the population of polar bears that call it home. We generally see up to forty polar bears during each 10 day expedition, many of them hunting for ringed and bearded seals on the last remaining ice of the summer months.

2006 saw a surprising lack of summer ice – in fact, the pack was 100 miles further north than an average year, which meant that bears were more densely gathered around the few remaining sections of fast ice. It was a blunt reminder of the effects of climate change. I photographed the female and cubs below as they hunted seals on a quickly-shrinking piece of ice. Polar bears can not hunt successfully without ice – access to the prized ring seals generally happens in one of two ways – lying in wait over a seal’s breathing hole, or stalking across the ice in a surprise attack. Once the winter ice has disappeared the bears have no option but to rest up and conserve as much energy as possible until the winter months bring back their icy hunting substrate.


Climate change is warming the arctic environment at an unprecedented rate meaning that the period of ice-free months is
lengthening. This puts incredible strain on the metabolism of a polar bear that is waiting for a meal. Incredibly, they can go for months without eating a seal, but as the days grow warmer, the polar bears are increasingly affected. For example, research by Dr Ian Stirling and Dr Nick Lunn in Hudson Bay has shown that for every additional week that a polar bear is land locked (away from the hunting substrate of the ice) it is 10 kilograms (22 pounds) lighter! Let’s hope that today’s proposed listing of polar bears on the endangered species act will help secure a future for this species.