Herring Gull in flightToday was a full day of hiking bear trails, hiking to bear dens, pontooning to a bear den, and planning for the upcoming project of mapping bear trails and recording reactions of habituated, food-conditioned bears we encounter along the way.
Along that line, we saw a resident walking a ¾ mile stretch of backwoods road frequently traveled by the bears. It goes through the WRI property. We asked if she was aware that many people across the country believe that bears that are fed in one location approach people for food in other locations. She said she never thought about it. We asked how frequently she has walked that road. She said she has walked the road about 4 times a week during the non-winter months since she arrived in Eagles Nest Community in 1997—that’s 17 years. We asked what kinds of bear problems she has faced. Answer: None. She never mentioned even seeing a bear. We’ll get back to her with pencil and paper for more detail.
With her seeing few or no bears right in the thick of them, we hope the volunteers coming here will see bears in the woods and not just at the feeding stations.
On the hikes and pontoon ride today, participants snapped many pictures of local wildlife. We’ll include some in tomorrow’s update.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.