Post by Steve Sutton on Mar 29, 2010 10:21:40 GMT -5
By Jack Austin, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Game Warden in Miles City
I began my career with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks 15 years ago in FWP Region 7 headquarters in Miles City.
Back then we heard rumors of people seeing a bear only now and then. Next we started getting people in the office with a picture or two to share. Soon people regularly came by to visit and share photos of the bears they had photographed in the area.
Before long, FWP was trapping a few bears that were reported for being in the “wrong place.” Finally, FWP Region 7 was able to support a bear hunting season and today hunters harvest a few black bears each year.
Some people out here believe FWP has been transplanting bears, but that isn’t true. The bears are finding their way here to refill the good quality habitat that they previously occupied many decades ago.
During Montana’s homestead era there were many, many small farms and more people called eastern Montana home. For homesteaders it was a tenuous thing to make a living and their tolerance for bears was nil.
Ironically, today the trend is reversed. Humans seem to be depopulating the area and bears are refilling an old niche.
We know from the Lewis and Clark Journals that 200 years ago there were many bears out here, both black and grizzlies. It will be interesting to see how far the resurgence of bears in eastern Montana goes.
I began my career with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks 15 years ago in FWP Region 7 headquarters in Miles City.
Back then we heard rumors of people seeing a bear only now and then. Next we started getting people in the office with a picture or two to share. Soon people regularly came by to visit and share photos of the bears they had photographed in the area.
Before long, FWP was trapping a few bears that were reported for being in the “wrong place.” Finally, FWP Region 7 was able to support a bear hunting season and today hunters harvest a few black bears each year.
Some people out here believe FWP has been transplanting bears, but that isn’t true. The bears are finding their way here to refill the good quality habitat that they previously occupied many decades ago.
During Montana’s homestead era there were many, many small farms and more people called eastern Montana home. For homesteaders it was a tenuous thing to make a living and their tolerance for bears was nil.
Ironically, today the trend is reversed. Humans seem to be depopulating the area and bears are refilling an old niche.
We know from the Lewis and Clark Journals that 200 years ago there were many bears out here, both black and grizzlies. It will be interesting to see how far the resurgence of bears in eastern Montana goes.