Jo brushes so close to the towns on the edge of her area that we are often crying out inside for her to go deeper into the forest. As the bears enter a leaner time with the emerging vegetation becoming more mature and less edible, we fear they will turn to birdfeeders and garbage as hundreds of bears do across Minnesota each year. Last year, the DNR recorded 584 bear complaints from across the state. We hope Jo doesn’t become one of the bears generating a complaint in 2011.
Pictures in tonight's update are of Bow and her female cub. Another video of Lily and family from June 3 has been posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aij190b9wtM.
So far, the berries look promising. It looks like a good crop of wild sarsaparilla berries is developing, and these are a favorite. These usually ripen in the middle of blueberry season, drawing bears away from blueberries to eat the tart sarsaparilla berries that turn their scats purple. After the sarsaparilla crop passes, the bears go back to blueberries or whatever else is on the menu that year. The more foods there are in the woods, the less the bears bother people. They generally prefer wild foods where they can feed without fear and get a better variety.
Then we think of the trip to Alaska. How are we going to get the daily drama of the bears out of our minds and concentrate on the conference? And how are we going to get the daily rhythm of writing updates out of our minds?
For a major change of pace, we are planning on driving from Anchorage to the Russian River near Coopers Landing, Alaska, to see the spectacle of hundreds of fishermen competing with brown bears for salmon. Sue has never seen a grizzly/brown bear before. Our host at the river will be Dr. Steve Stringham who is doing a research/consulting project there.
This trip reminds us of the trip to Ottawa, Ontario, coming up July 17-23 and how it conflicts with the Lilypad Picnic. We committed to that trip last summer to give an invited talk for the International Bear Conference. There was nothing we could do when we learned the Lilypad Picnic was being planned for the weekend we get back. The plane lands in Minneapolis at 7:30 PM on Saturday the 23rd. We’ll drive to Ely that night to be sure we can make the Sunday morning brunch at Grand Ely Lodge. We know so many more names now and want to meet all of you.
On Wednesday evening, June 8, The Bear Family and Me is airing on National Geographic Wild Channel at 8 PM ET (Channel 190 on DISH). All three 1-hour programs will air in a row, and then they will immediately repeat. We have it set to record while we are in Alaska.
The founders of the International Wolf Center, Dr. L. David Mech and Nancy Gibson, long-time supporters of the North American Bear Center, sent heartfelt thank you’s for the way Lily fans came through for them. It felt very good to see their recognition of what you all did.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center