Amazing! In 8 hours you pulled off the miracle we thought would be hard to do by September. Lily fans started voting in earnest for Soudan Underground Mine State Park about 10:30 PM. It was buried deep in the rankings with only 151 votes. By 6:45 AM, you had the park in 1st place. Now you have it pulling ahead with over 24,000 votes—more than double the votes for 2nd place Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Together, you are giant-killers.
What is super is that Lily fans are again helping the area where the radio-collared bears live. We hope your work sends a message about the value of these bears to the area. From what DNR officials have told us, you can help the study bears best, and best show the value of the radio-collared bears to Minnesota, by putting your votes solely into Soudan Underground Mine State Park.
To vote, go to http://www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks/leaderboard . Click on the VOTE button. A screen comes up saying “Search for a Park.” Start typing in Soudan, and it fills in the full name of Soudan Underground Mine State Park. Click GO. A screen comes up with an orange symbol showing the location of the park on the map. Click on the Orange Symbol. A screen comes up saying “Vote for this Park.” Click on those words. A screen comes up with scrambled letters. Type in the letters. Click “Submit.” A screen comes up saying “Back to Map.” From there on it’s easy to vote over and over. Everything comes up quickly. Clicking on “Back to Map” takes you back to the “Vote for this Park.” Click on that. Type in the scrambled letters. Click “submit.” Click “Back to Map”, etc.
But why are we giving such detailed instructions when you have amassed so many votes already? You could likely give US instructions!
All the bears with GPS units are letting us know they are safely foraging far from people as we scramble to be ready for the International Bear Conference and tomorrow’s bear course. We saw big wide-headed Victor with his old scarred-up face and a few fresh ones from this mating season. He would be recognizable even without the scars because of his distinctive white chest blaze. He is shy and wary until he is sure it is us, and he hasn’t seen us since August 27th—over 10 months ago. Seeing him today finally confirmed that he survived overwinter. Once he was sure who we are, he was fine with us. We first met him June 21, 2005 when we believe he was 4, making him 10 now.
A scat today had the first juneberry seeds. The Boy Named Sue is evidently so anxious for berry season that he is eating them green. The smell of the scat suggests he was also eating the fleshy bases of cattails. Those don’t show up in scats except by smell. That’s why the best way to learn what bears eat is to watch them, which is one reason we do the kind of research we do.
In the world of unknowns, painted turtles are coming onto land to dig nest holes and lay eggs. We can recognize individual turtles by the cracks and breaks in their shells and are seeing old familiar individuals. We also are seeing nest holes dug up with egg shells broken and strewn around. Do bears eat turtle eggs? We don’t know. We look for bear tracks and don’t see them. Each year, we vow to put up trail cameras at the best turtle nest locations, and again this year the opportunity is going past undone. One more thing needing to get done.
Thank you again for all the orders you are sending for “The Bear Family and Me” 3-DVD set at http://www.bear.org/website/gift-shop.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=841&category_id=8 .
Thank you for all you do!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center