Brown bears close, elusive

Biologists say the south fork of Campbell Creek that borders the science center forms one side of a triangle of land -- primarily located in the adjacent Far North Bicentennial Park -- that was visited by at least 20 brown bears over the past two summers.

But noise from large groups of kids, ages 4 to 17, helps keep the bears away, says Trailside director Tom Burek. He oversees the camp each summer from his company's leased space inside the science center, located near the entrance of the 730-acre Campbell Tract on the east edge of Anchorage.

"In my whole time here, and this is my 11th summer, none of the staff or kids have ever observed a brown bear," Burek said Thursday.

Jeff Brune, federal manager of the science center -- which also hosts adult and Anchorage School District classes year around -- has noted the same phenomena.

"We know brown bears are here. We see signs of them, whether it's salmon carcasses or moose carcasses," Brune said. "But there hasn't been any sighting of a brown bear by a group here -- ever."

He credits the noise factor along with the science center's daytime hours of operation. But the federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Campbell Tract, also limits places where youth groups are allowed to go, confining their creekside outings to three well-cleared areas nearby.

"What we try to do is create predictability by using the same trails along the creek at the same time of day," Brune said. "If you create predictable patterns, the bears have a chance of recognizing them."

BLACK BEARS?

Black bears might be a different story. Science center groups spot the smaller bruins about 10 to 15 times a summer, Brune said. Still, the kids and their chaperones have never had a close encounter.

The BLM stipulates that two adults chaperone all science center youth groups -- one at the front of the group and one at the back, bracketing all the kids. And each leader must carry bear spray, a BLM radio, a cell phone and a safety pack. They also must be practiced in using bear spray, Brune said.

Such precautions are rarely taken by all the unregulated visitors to the Campbell Tract, which hosts about 100,000 trail-users a year and an additional 40,000 science center users, Brune said. And fast-moving bikers and runners traveling solo on the tract's 12 miles of wilderness trails carry a far greater risk of encountering a bear. There are sometimes reports of close calls.

CONCERNED PARENTS

None of those encounters, however, were ever as serious as the middle-of-the-night mauling of 15-year-old Petra Davis last Sunday on a trail that extends nearly to the science center.

The South High School student had been competing in a 24-hour bike race in Bicentennial Park when she suddenly crossed paths with a brown bear.

The attack left Davis with life-threatening lacerations to her neck, shoulder, torso, buttocks and thigh. But a fast response by a fellow biker and other first-responders helped to save her life.

Since then, both Brune and Burek have fielded queries from concerned parents wanting to know how safe their children are at the science center, located just a mile downstream from the mauling.

Brune tells them about all the precautions the science center has established, including its prohibition on youth groups eating outside. He tells them about the radios and chaperones. He tells them about the noise.

Which was beginning to reach a crescendo Thursday as a small group of 4- and 5-year-olds queued up in front of the science center entrance for lunch.

Then a college-aged counselor with a radio lifted her right fist in the air, extending her pointer and pinky fingers like the ears of some curious critter.

One by one the preschoolers responded in kind, breaking off conversations and raising the ears of their tiny fists.

"All right, you quiet coyotes," the leader said approvingly. "We're going inside to clean up."

Find George Bryson online at adn.com/contact/gbryson or call 257-4318.