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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Bears Showing Up a Bit Early

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    Last week's bear sighting might be bad news, according to Jan Hayes of Sandia Mountain BearWatch.
    "It's a little early to be seeing bears," Hayes said.
    On May 22, a young female bear was spotted in Edgewood by two teenagers on their way to school. The bear was captured and released in the Manzano Mountains.
    BearWatch has been in existence for 13 years and, according to Hayes, has helped push the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish in the right direction regarding bear management.
    "New Mexico has probably one of the best managements for this species in all of the 13 western states," Hayes said.
    That management, along with educating people about bears, is essential to the continued survival of bears in the area.
    "We've had bears up here for tens of thousands of years ... that would be a very sad end to the story, if we don't have bears in the Sandias and Manzanos," Hayes said.
    She added that bears are particularly vulnerable in New Mexico because the state is prone to drought. Under those conditions, the forest produces less food for bears, which might cause them to wander outside of their territory and into human populations.
    "When they go outward, what do they run into? Houses," said Chris Chadwick, district supervisor for the Albuquerque office of Game and Fish.
    Drought may not be the problem this year, according to Hayes.
    "We had a pretty good year last year and the bears are in good shape, they're not undernourished," Hayes said.
    Both Chadwick and Hayes said they consider the continued growth in the human population of the East Mountains a significant factor in conflicts between bears and humans.
    Chadwick said the most important factor in reducing that conflict is removing sources of bear food around the home, including covering trash cans, taking in bird feeders and not leaving pet food out.
    "When you feed a bear, by accident or on purpose, you put them in conflict with people," he said.
    The first step after a bear has come into contact with humans is moving the bear, he says, but bears often return to the source of the food, sometimes several times.
    "We may have to euthanize (the bear). We don't want to do that but sometimes we don't have a choice," Chadwick said.
    To help avoid human-bear conflict, BearWatch is hosting a meeting Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Doc Long picnic area on the Sandia Crest Highway.
    Presentations will be given by Cibola National Forest wildlife biologist Bill Falvey. Falvey will talk about his adventures and insights with bears.
    The day won't be entirely devoted to bears, according to Hayes. A member of Animal Protection of New Mexico will be on hand to talk about cougar management.
    For more information about BearWatch, which has 600 members in the Sandia and Manzano mountains alone, call Hayes at 281-9282.