Rain, Fire, Smoke, Food, Bears, Color, and a Concern - UPDATE August 29, 2021
Early color on a red maple
Early color on a red maple
With an inch of rain falling overnight and the wind shifting away from the fires, the smell of smoke disappeared and our eyes have stopped burning. We are now waiting to see if the bears stop coughing and sneezing and having runny noses like we have never seen. The smoke will likely return when the winds again become easterly. In this longest drought I can recall, rainfall during May 16 to August 26 totaled 4.2 inches and--only 28% of the expected 15.0 inches.
I suspect that the drought is why red maple leaves are turning color a couple weeks earlier than usual.
The extreme lack of wild bear foods (hazelnuts and berries) that accompanied the drought and late frosts of this year remind me of what I documented in other years of food shortage—high mortality among cubs and yearlings due to starvation, and high mortality among older bear bears as they were shot going house-to-house for garbage and bird seed. As part of that in 1985, they moved unusual distances. Three radio-collared bears that had spent their lives in wilderness habitat near the Canadian Border moved 90 to 107 kilometers south to Duluth. Several other study bears were also among the 90 shot in and near Duluth. The same southward movement happened in Canada where 70 bears were shot in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Along the way, an unknown number were shot at residences that held the only foods available for miles around.
By the September 1 opening of that 1985 bear season, it is likely that as many bears were shot in summer as normally would be killed in hunting season. That was a major blow to an effort by the DNR to help Minnesota’s black bear population recover from decades of management aimed at killing these supposedly dangerous varmints. Bounties had been offered to kill Minnesota black bears longer (through 1965) than did any other state. When I began my Minnesota bear study in 1969, black bears were still considered dangerous varmints to be poisoned, trapped, or shot in any number at any time over most of the state. Even in a small protected part of the state, bears were surreptitiously being killed in one way or another; people will not coexist with animals they feared.
That situation in 1969 led me to begin a public education campaign and to work for change with like-minded DNR officials, legislators, and hunting leaders. Together, we passed legislation in 1971 giving Minnesota’s bears the protection and respect of a big game animal. To increase the population, the DNR then asked me to write new bear management regulations for the state. The regulations reduced bear hunting from 52 weeks to six, protected bears when cubs were dependent on mothers’ milk, and greatly reduced wounding loss. Our goal was to restore Minnesota’s decimated bear population.
After the brutal decimation of bear population in 1985 due to being shot at houses looking for food, things took a further turn for the worst. A DNR study documented that starving bears were so attracted to hunters’ baits that hunter success was three times higher than usual. And the losses did not end there. Malnourished mothers lost their pregnancies, and the few that did produce cubs in the January birthing season lost them in unusual numbers due to insufficient production of milk. Beyond that, some mothers were not able to regain their nutrient stores and failed to produce viable cubs the next year as well.
The current problems of food failure that we are seeing in Minnesota also extends up into Canada. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources officials are reporting the same lack of food and problems of bears seeking garbage and bird seed. The only areas I know of where this is not happening is where residents are keeping bears out of trouble with diversionary food.
Similar to 1985, Minnesota has been trying in recent years to boost the state’s black bear population after it was cut nearly in half a few years ago. Data from the past indicate the population is about to take a major blow. I don’t know what can be done. Fall hunting seasons are planned in the spring. Following this summer of food failure, famished bears will once again be drawn to hunters’ baits in unusual numbers. Can the September 1 bear hunting season be curtailed if the kill begins to exceed the usual numbers like it did in 1985?
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
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