Post by Steve Sutton on Mar 29, 2010 10:22:46 GMT -5
By Diane Tipton, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Statewide Information Officer
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is collaborating with the University of Montana to learn more about the secret lives of urban bears.
“Urban bears, those that live near and sometimes enter cities like Missoula, Kalispell or Bozeman, live mysterious lives,” said Jamie Jonkel, FWP bear manager in Missoula. “There is a lot we don’t know about their behavior compared to that of wild bears.”
To learn more, FWP assisted UM wildlife biology graduate student Jerod Merkle to set up a three-year research project.
Merkle mapped more than 900 bear conflicts reported to FWP by callers in the Missoula area between 2003 and 2008.
“Once mapped, it was possible to better identify and study how landscape features like riparian areas and water, small and large forest patches, and housing density may have played a role in those conflicts,” Merkle said.
Merkle found that seeing or getting into a conflict with a bear:
· increases when the housing density is between two and three houses per acre and decreases if that density shrinks or grows,
· increases the closer to water the location is,
· decreases the further away from large patches of forest the location is.
Merkle’s research model confirmed what common sense and close observation would suggest—the higher quality the habitat, the more likely a conflict.
“We still have work to do to fully understand what, in an urban bear’s view, is high-quality habitat,” Merkle said. “For example, you might think the more homes per acre, the more garbage generated, the more likely an urban bear would get into a conflict there. Instead, we found that urban bears are most likely to get into conflicts in areas where there are two to three houses per acre.”
Merkle also worked with FWP to GPS collar 10 Missoula area black bears to observe how these bears use the urban landscape. GPS collars report the exact location of a bear every three hours to a site on the Internet.
“We’re only half way through the study, but we are noticing that bears generally seem to visit urban areas at night and stay in the more natural areas during the day,” he said.
So far the data also suggests that bears spend most of their time in a natural setting, but at certain times of the year, for example in the fall, reverse that behavior and use urban areas almost exclusively.
Jonkel is looking forward to the conclusion of the research this fall. He said a better understanding of urban bears will help him and other FWP bear managers around the state to direct time and money where and when it will make the most difference for people and for bears. The research will also help FWP contribute more valuable information to city and county planners, during subdivision hearings and in setting up ‘bear buffer zones’ for refuse management, as the City of Missoula did recently.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is collaborating with the University of Montana to learn more about the secret lives of urban bears.
“Urban bears, those that live near and sometimes enter cities like Missoula, Kalispell or Bozeman, live mysterious lives,” said Jamie Jonkel, FWP bear manager in Missoula. “There is a lot we don’t know about their behavior compared to that of wild bears.”
To learn more, FWP assisted UM wildlife biology graduate student Jerod Merkle to set up a three-year research project.
Merkle mapped more than 900 bear conflicts reported to FWP by callers in the Missoula area between 2003 and 2008.
“Once mapped, it was possible to better identify and study how landscape features like riparian areas and water, small and large forest patches, and housing density may have played a role in those conflicts,” Merkle said.
Merkle found that seeing or getting into a conflict with a bear:
· increases when the housing density is between two and three houses per acre and decreases if that density shrinks or grows,
· increases the closer to water the location is,
· decreases the further away from large patches of forest the location is.
Merkle’s research model confirmed what common sense and close observation would suggest—the higher quality the habitat, the more likely a conflict.
“We still have work to do to fully understand what, in an urban bear’s view, is high-quality habitat,” Merkle said. “For example, you might think the more homes per acre, the more garbage generated, the more likely an urban bear would get into a conflict there. Instead, we found that urban bears are most likely to get into conflicts in areas where there are two to three houses per acre.”
Merkle also worked with FWP to GPS collar 10 Missoula area black bears to observe how these bears use the urban landscape. GPS collars report the exact location of a bear every three hours to a site on the Internet.
“We’re only half way through the study, but we are noticing that bears generally seem to visit urban areas at night and stay in the more natural areas during the day,” he said.
So far the data also suggests that bears spend most of their time in a natural setting, but at certain times of the year, for example in the fall, reverse that behavior and use urban areas almost exclusively.
Jonkel is looking forward to the conclusion of the research this fall. He said a better understanding of urban bears will help him and other FWP bear managers around the state to direct time and money where and when it will make the most difference for people and for bears. The research will also help FWP contribute more valuable information to city and county planners, during subdivision hearings and in setting up ‘bear buffer zones’ for refuse management, as the City of Missoula did recently.