Lily leans back and yawns Today’s highlight was the arrival of Executive Director Nadine Long after a long drive from Oregon to Ely, Minnesota. Nadine brings extensive corporate experience and a strong passion for the mission of the North American Bear Center. She has volunteered nearly full time since 2010 and is a proven entity. The Duluth News Tribune interviewed Nadine about her new position back in January http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/256195/. Welcome aboard, Nadine! We’re giving Nadine and her husband Russ 3 days to unpack before we hold an official welcoming potluck dinner for her and Director of Operations Judy Thon.
Lily and cubWe saw a nice bear story posted today at http://blog.nature.org/conservancy/2013/03/05/close-encounter-black-bear-showdown/. It’s the usual story of man meets black bear. Each year there are millions of human-black bear encounters that end just like this one did. 
Lily and cubsIt reminds us of the bear tales in the new book “Bear Encounters: True Stories to Entertain and Educate,” created from tales contributed by Lily Fans. We recently received a few advance copies and we love the book. Each of the 79 stories is suitable for a bedtime story. They show black bears as Lily Fans have seen them, with the bears responding to human encounters as anyone truly familiar with black bears would expect. 
Cub play!The book is educational while being entertaining. We are ordering copies for the Gift Shop and will let you know when they are available. We look forward to getting the books in.
Cub play!Questions have been raised about the 2013 Bear Courses. Here’s the story. Yes, we are holding our usual Black Bear Field Study courses. However, due to a long list of folks who signed up for the 2012 Bear Course Waiting List, the 2013 courses will not be open for registration. We are filling the courses from the Waiting List in the order people signed up. Some folks have been on the list for a couple years.
Only a few days left of voting for Jim Stroner's ScienceFriday photo contest entry at http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/311854/voteable_entries/65495698.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All pictures taken today unless otherwise noted.