Daily Updates
Great Day - UPDATE April 8, 2016
08 April 2016
At the Bear Center, the staff had me there for a birthday lunch. Fun. Then we looked at prints of some of Common Redpoll
Common Redpoll
the pictures for the upper walls and I got helpful critiques.
One of the pictures that no one liked was this picture of a bear at night. I don?t know how it will come out on your computer screens. It looks easily visible on my screen but dark and mysterious printed out?which is actually better for its purpose. When I started walking with bears, getting over my fear of the dark was a hurdle. I couldn?t see the bears well enough to read them, which tested my trust. I soon learned that they are the same as ever in the dark. The dark picture, if it comes out dark for this update like I hope, represents that. It represents the fears of a lot of people. It may be one reason people fear bears. In a dark, shadowy forest, bears may represent one of the fears of the unknown?the same as the dark depths of the ocean represented a fear of the unknown that might have been behind tales of sea monsters. When I told the staff what the picture would represent, they liked it and said I should test it in the update tonight. I hope it comes out dark like in my print.
Someone made my birthday today by sending me Martyn Stewart?s supportive comment from under the update of March 30th. Actually I?ve been putting together the factual story of government hindrance of my research and even of the Bear Center. I thought I might have to use it in relation to the DNR feeding legislation this year, but that seems to be going well enough that I can stay quiet for now. And as far as the Bear Center goes, I think the DNR will lay off hurting the Bear Center after the DNR?s General Counsel wrote them a letter on May 12, 2014 letting them know that their interference with the Bear Center was beyond their authority. It was also good to see that the court penalized the DNR during the hearing for illegally withholding papers to cover up the fact that while the DNR was telling the public that they had to rescind my research permit because I didn?t publish enough, the DNR was working behind the scenes to prevent me from publishing.
Bear at night
Bear at night
The story goes back to the early 90?s when the DNR and U. S. Forest Service ended my bear study over a white pine dispute and put together a story similar to what the DNR is doing now. On that one, I ended up being named Minnesota?s Environmental Hero and the Chief and Deputy Chief of the USFS ended up being relieved of duty a year later. On that one, my white pine management reforms ended up with so much backing from the public, the media, environmental groups, the legislature, and the governor, that my reputation was salvaged even though my job ended and the DNR black-balled me for the next several years?and to an extent to this day. At the same time, I feel good when I see the last of these long-lived trees now being spared in clear-cuts to stand tall and go on providing their ecological values while another forest of aspen grows up around them and is harvested. Now, in this black bear controversy, the DNR has resorted to so much dishonesty and so many half-truths that their actions reveal how weak their case is and leads to a more captivating story about what black bears are really like and what lengths an agency will go to in perpetuating the misconceptions for their purposes. Of interest in that, bear complaints from the local community were zero for 8 years straight (1998 through November 2005) until the DNR began inflating their complaint records by filing complaints in people?s names without the people?s knowledge or words and without those people ever making a complaint. That?s when the DNR began redacting identities of ?complainants.? Eventually, a resident and Representative David Dill together exposed the DNR?s practice and falsifying ended. But the DNR continued to target radio-collared bears in ways to phase out our study through killings, forced removals of radio-collars, etc. Interestingly, after the court proceedings ended in March 2014, the DNR had no more incentive to misrepresent my research by inflating their complaint records. Mysteriously, bear complaints fell back to zero since then?zero bear complaints from the community during 2014 and 2015. The DNR just can?t seem to stop itself. It?s response to my Den Cam Permit Application contained 10 pages of half-truths written as Findings of Fact from the court records. I saw how legal and convincing those would look to anyone who didn?t know the background that I?ll probably end up having to tell the other half of those stories if the DNR continues to misrepresent the truth about me in order to stop my research. However, at my age (77 tomorrow) I very much prefer to ignore the bashings and accomplish my goals to the extent I can. But the DNR?s actions have become so much a part of the story that it almost has to be told as an example of what black bears are up against. I?m putting the facts together so I or someone can refute the DNR?s views of bears and tell the truth about these amazing animals. If black bears were truly like these people say, we could not have worked with them in the ways we have for so many years with the safety record we have.
The dark picture of the black bear at night represents what many people believe about bears. Bears at night helped show me what they are really like. My goal is to tell their story. Lily Fans already know their story. We need to spread it further. Documentary producers have been contacting me lately with opportunities to tell the story, but the DNR has pretty much stopped my ability to work in that way. The avenue for the future will likely be mainly through the written word.
Three male redpolls
Three male redpolls
Another nice thing about today was that the full flock of hundreds of redpolls was here flying around my head letting me feel the wind from their wings. As long as I stood still next to the familiar mannequin, they ignored me, although none landed on me. Even when I slowly moved, most didn?t fly away. An unusual experience.
By Wednesday, temperatures will be in the 50?s and 60?s F. That will make a big difference to the snow. We?ll see what that means for the activities of Ted, Honey, Lucky, and Holly. Wild bears should be leaving their dens in a week or so unless we get another big snow. Lily Fans and I remember the longest denning period documented in all of my research?Lily, Eli, and Ellie being snowbound until April 22 in 2013.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
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